Six Years Is A Long Time
by Nami7623
Summary: Yuffie has been gone for six years. She comes back a whole new person, she might not even be human. But what will happen when her deepest darkest secret is out? Will her so called "friends" stay by her side? YxV -Hiatus-
1. Back In Midgar

Ok this is my first fanfiction. I did not want to post it, but thanks to a friend I did (You know who you are!). And I just may regret this...but anyway go on and read your little hearts out : ) (May be a little OOC)

Disclaimer: I do NOT, in any way, shape, or form, own Final Fantasy, characters, settings, or stuff like that. But I mean come on! If I did (which I don't) why in the world would I being here writing this? (Sighs) Whatever...

Rated T because of language. Takes place six years after DOC.

* * *

Back In Midgar

I stare out into the night sky's brilliant stars. The city seemed dead. I was never one who enjoys the silence, in fact, I hated it. Though, I have no power over the silence this time. Humans need their sleep, I suppose. Most of them should be in bed by now; happy dreams circling in their fragile heads. Happiness; the one thing my heart can no longer feel.

Midgar is in the rebuilding process. They are almost finished building the city to what it once was a long time ago. It's been almost six years since I have last walked along these streets. It seems almost unbelievable to be here again. I yawned sleepily as I walked along, the wind blowing lightly behind me.

As I began to make my way into the heart of the city, it became somewhat louder. I turned left, then right, another left, and continued walking along a semi-familiar path. If I remember correctly, which I probably do, I will be there in minutes. Yays, for me! I have been walking for two whole days, all I want to do is just sit down or sleep.

Last time I was here, I was waiting for Vincent to come back. Yup, he worried m- I mean, us alright. Almost gave me downright heart attack, that jerk. I don't know why I had cared at the time, but I did, a lot. I wonder how he's doing now? Is Shelke still with them? That's gotta be a yes. As if he would ever let her leave his side; she has his wonderful dead chick's memories stuffed in that messed up brain of hers. Also, I believe that Reeve grew very fond of her during their time together.

Oh, thank Gawd! I am finally here! With a deep breath, I pushed open the door to the bar. You can't even begin to imagine the horror that fell before my eyes. Every person in Avalanche-yes, _every freaking_ one of them- is here. Wait take that back- Reeve and his toy cat thing aren't here. What did he call that thing again? Cet Seam? Cat Smith? Sith Cat? Oh yeah! Cait Sith. Whatever, point is I didn't think they would all be here like this. Don't they have lives to live or something like that? I swear things like this only happen to me. This cannot end well. Maybe I'll just come back later, yeah later, that sounds good. Just as I was about to dash the hell out of there, I heard someone call my name.

"Yuffie?" she gasped. "Is that you?"

Out of pure habit, I turned around at the sound of my name. Then cursed myself mentally for doing so, I'm such an idiot. Tifa had the most bizarre look on her face as she stared at me. It was like the first time she has ever seen me or something. I mean, sure I have changed more 'womanly' over the six years I was gone and all that stuff, but did I really look that different? Maybe she is just shocked to see me. Or now that I think about it, my outfit is kind of bright. I pulled on my neon green pair of shorts, as I looked down at aqua blue tube top. I suddenly regretted wearing my knee high aqua blue tie up boots, with insanely bright neon green lace. I should I just put on some sneakers, jeez.

Every thought in my mind stopped when I saw _everyone_ in the bar turn and looked directly at me. I felt my face heat up. They are all here, and now-thanks to Tifa- I can't leave. But I don't see Shelke? Is she here? Did she leave? Oh my Gawd, I hope she didn't die or anything like that. I mean, I don't hate her, I just don't like her. She acts as if she's better than me, which she is not.

"No, it is a pixie Tifa." I said smirking as the thought came to mind.

Tifa's face lighted up like a kid on Christmas. She ran from the bar table and jumped onto me. As she pulled me in for a gigantic bear hug, I began wonder if she was insane. I mean, what the hell? I can't breathe! Why is she even hugging me? She couldn't have missed me so much to squeeze the life out of me.

"..Ti...fa I can't... breath...!" I wailed out, pretty sure I was turning blue. Is she trying to kill me?

She let me go thankfully, but now she looks as if she is going to start crying. And as my messed up fate would have it, she burst into tears a few seconds later. The smile on my face since she let go faded away instantly. Is she ok? Then again, why do I still care so much about them? I turned to look at Cloud. Hoping he knew what was going on. But his face looked as if he was having 'I'm in shock moment and can't understand the woman I love is have a break down', just great.

"Hey Teef, don't cry." I said, trying to sound as warm and loving as I possibly could.

And guess what? To my horror she starts sobbing even harder, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. She placed her hands over her face, trying to hide the tears that were flowing without any signs of stopping. Shit, wrong thing to say apparently. Panicking, I wrapped my arms around her.

"I-I mean it is ok!" I choked out quickly.

She tried to put herself back together, I could tell that much. I watched gratefully as she slowly- _very_ slowly- stop crying.

"Oh Yuffie! You haven't changed at all! I mean you have, but not that much. Oh, you know what I mean!" Tifa said, sounding a little weak from her bawling session.

I smiled sweetly at her, but it was completely fake. Tifa will always be Tifa, I guess, just as I will always be incomplete.

"It is good to see you to Teef. I was dying to come back. It is just, every time I got up to leave something pulled me back." I told her, lying through my teeth.

"Like what? Wait- oh how rude of me- would you like something to drink? One minute!" she pulled back and dashed to the bar window before I could even form an answer in my mind. She turned the bar neon light open sign off. Then turned back around to face the bar itself.

"I want everyone that doesn't live here OUT NOW! Or I WILL remove you!" she hollered at the drunks.

The 'drunks' got up all like, well, drunks and walked out of the bar. Soon the bar was cleared out, expect for my old fighting allies.

"That was fast." I added shocked.

"Yeah, most of them learned the hard way." Tifa giggled, obviously remembering something .

Suddenly, she stopped to stare at me with such intensity that I fidgeted looking away from her.

"Something wrong?" I asked nervously.

"Nope I just missed you..." she said sadly.

I looked at the floor, feeling my heart drop. Oh Gawd, this is what I was most scared of. The 'I missed you' thing. Sad part about this is I don't believe it. I don't think she ever missed me. I felt the tears form up in the corner of my eyes. The water like drops rolled down my face, onto the floor. I feel so weak, but some part of me also wanted to tell the truth. Why I was really gone. I wanted to tell them why so bad that it hurt. There is only one problem. It would just lead to questions that I don't want to answer.

"This is so weird, I mean you were gone for- Yuffie are you crying?" asked Tifa, suddenly worried.

I turned to face the wall, trying to hide my tears. Instead, I faced a shocked Cid Highwing. He also looked a little pissed off truth be told. Ok, more than a little pissed…

"No way! The brats crying! Where the fuck have you been kid? Had us damn freaking out. Thinking you were dead, and all that shit. You had us looking for you for years. Tifa's been like a human waterfall, every time we did not find you." said Cid coldly.

Stop it Yuffie, you don't cry. I don't cry! But is what Cid said true? Why would someone cry because of me? Or better, why am I crying for people who don't care what happens to me? Sweet Leviathan, more tears! I put my hands over my mouth, as I sobbed harder. I turned to make a run for the door. I knew this was a bad idea. I should have never come here in the first place. I should have stayed dead to them; they would have never found me anyway.

Then I hit something. I looked up with tears in my eyes. I could make out a Barret looking like thing. I tried to push him away out of my way. He didn't move, not even a little bit. Barret put his arms around me, in a fatherly embrace. I could not take it anymore; knowing he cared enough to try to make me feel better, broke me even more. I hugged him as I cried my heart out into his chest. I am so weak. I should not be crying. No, I should not, ninjas don't cry. People like me shouldn't cry, I have no right to be showing any kind of human emotion.

"CID! LOOK WHA YOU JUST DID!" screamed Barret furious, still holding me.

Okay, that was a little loud. Thanks for that Barret, my poor ears just loved it.

"And I was NOT a waterfall!" add in Tifa.

I knew it! Why would she even care if I had died? I am not Aeris.

"Hey, it is not my fault the brat runs off to hell knows where. Then comes back to cry like a baby, shit." said Cid.

"YOU MADE IT WROST FOO!" replied Barret.

For the love of all that is good and right in this low life planet, stop screaming! I tried my best to stop crying this is so unYuffie like. Put yourself together Yuffie. Ok, I am now hiccupping, great, just great. Well at least I have stop crying like a babbling idiot. Barret chose then looked down on me, his anger fading away.

"You ok girl?" he asked.

"I am fine." I told him, but even I could hear the lie in my words.

"Didn't seem like it." He answered.

I gave him one of my cute smiles; it was fake as could be. Over the years I have become a very good actor. He seemed to be satisfied with my smile, which didn't surprise me. I lightly pushed him away from me, wiping the tears remaining on my face off. If only they knew what I am. They would hate me more for it, that's one thing I'm sure of.

"Yuffie..." said a male voice.

I turned to glance at Cloud's unreadable face. I snapped at him.

"What you too, huh? Are you going to call me a brat? Tell me to leave-"

"No, I was going to say; Nice to have you back, Yuffie." He said simply, cutting off my rant.

My mouth opened, as my eyes widened. I always had a feeling that Cloud hated me, more than the others did. I mean he never even talked to me, because I am too childish for his words of wisdom or something along those lines. I wonder if I was wrong? Do they hate me? Or like me? I don't know anymore. I am too drowsy for this anyway. I need to just sleep…

Cloud began to laugh when he noticed my confused face. What a jerk. I grinned wickedly as a thought entered my brilliant- still sleepy- mind.

"So Cloud, did you tell Tifa?" I asked him with a huge grin.

"Tell me what?" asked Tifa, curiosity showing in her voice.

"I have no idea." said Cloud, sounding confused.

"That you _love_ her, silly!" I informed him.

Cloud turned five different shades of red. He dropped his gaze to the floor, not daring to look at Tifa. I saw that Tifa was also red, but her blush was much lighter then Cloud's. My smirk grew, I feel so evil right now.

"Just kidding, Spike" I told him.

Maybe he didn't tell her, but she already knew. Nothing passes her motherly mind.

"...Whatever." said Cloud, still a little red.

I smiled kindly at him, this time it wasn't _all_ that fake.

"Yuff, come sit down. We have so much to talk about!" said Tifa.

I skipped up to the bar counter and sat on a stool, slowly kicking my feet back and forth. A small smile on my lips, I felt as if I could breathe again. Of course, I don't understand why I felt this way. Before this, everything I did and everything I had felt like it could slip away at any moment. Fade into the darkness around me, never returning again, forever lost to me.

While I depressed myself, Tifa went behind the bar counter. I took in her image; she mostly looks the same as before I left. Her outfit has changed obviously. She was wearing jeans with a white tang top, the top had thin black lines going every which way. Tifa's shoes were black flip flops. Her hair -still the same length- was up in a pony tail. A little piece of hair was in her face, but just as I noticed it, she pulled it back behind her ear. As I watched, she began to get two beers ready. I feel like I don't belong here, and there is a reason for that. I don't. They said I could go back for now. They had said "now" weirdly though. I wonder why they had let me go? Was there something here they want to know about? Anyway this is not the time for this; I need to be the happy Yuffie. The fake Yuffie. No matter how tired I may be.

"So where have you been? Or better yet, how have you been? "asked Tifa, passing me my drink.

"Oh, I've been been great!" I lied, taking a small sip of the beer.

"You skipped the first question." said Red XIII (Nanaki).

Damn, what now? I turned to face Nanaki who was on the floor with his head up. I don't want to sound like a brat or anything like that, but I can't tell them. I just can't. Maybe they didn't hear him.

"Yes, Yuffie Kisaragi, that you did." said female voice.

I turned again, to be face to face with Shelke Rui. I guess she is not dead. Also, in one piece, might I add?

I stared at her; she was wearing brown jeans, with a pink flower belt, a pink tang top with purple lace lining. Her hair was also the same as before minus the pink crystal flower clip. Reeve had apparently found out how to get her to age again. Shelke had grown into 25 year old woman, shockingly looking a lot like her dead sister Shalua Rui.

"Oh my Gawd! Shelke you don't look like a ten year old anymore! I'm so proud of you!" I said with a happy smile, hoping to distract her.

"Thanks?" asked Shelke, confused by my answer.

Yay, she forgot about the question. I'm too awesome.

"Answer the question Yuffie."

I turn around AGAIN to face a Vincent Valentine, this is getting ridiculous.

"What question?" I asked sweetly.

"Do not play dumb with me, Yuffie." growled Vincent.

He is just like I remembered him. Right down to the hair, red eyes, and cape. Most of the guys here haven't changed their so called 'looks'.

So, here are my options at the moment:

1. Run away (Hey it's what I do best).

2. Answer the question (Yeah right in a million years).

3. Act like a brat (This could work).

4. Hug Vincent (Wait what?).

I am going for option one. Get ready, set... Go Yuffie, run! Almost to the door, half way there, yes, okay! Opening the door- wait, take that back. Why can't I move? Someone grabbed my wrist! If it is Barret I am going to kill him. Oh look Vincent, you have seemed to grab my wrist my mistake. I would very much like it if you got your HANDS off of me thank you! That sounds good. I opened my mouth to speak this but Vincent beat me to it.

"Running is futile." he said coldly.

Well just watch me try Vinnie!

"Let me go!" I said, trying to pull out of his grasp.

"So you can run away from this? Not returning till another six years pass? I haven't been born yesterday." said Vincent.

Yeah, we all know that you were not born yesterday. Babies are cute, not sexy like you. Wait what? SEXY? Where did that come from? Maybe I am in shock because he said twenty words...HE SAID TWENTY WORDS!

"Do you just say twenty words?" I asked puzzled.

"It appears I will have to do this the hard way." he replied with a sigh.

Oh. My. Leviathan. He talks more now; I guess six years is a long time. But what the hell is the "hard way"? I bet it will hurt. I have to get out of here! Pulling arm out of his grasp Yuffie, pull harder. Jeez, he's strong, and it does not help that this is his claw arm. I am so blaming my sleepy body for my weakness.

"LET ME GO, VALETINE! I WANNA SLEEP!" I screamed my heart out, making him twitch from the extreme loudness of my voice.

Ouch! That hurt, he just pushed me into the wall! He then twisted my arm, so my face went right into the wall. Pain, ouch, pain!

"Vincent stop that, it HURTS!" I yelled.

"I can make it hurt more you know." he told me bitterly.

I don't need that, this is enough right now, thank you! I need help and I'm ranting to myself again, ugh. What a horrible day this turned out to be.

"Tifa! Make him stop!" I begged.

"Vincent stop it, please!" Tifa immediately said after my request.

"No way, Tifa! That brat, has to learn the hard way." retorted Cid.

Cid if I ever get out of this, you are so dead!

"CID!" screamed Barret.

"What damnit?" barked Cid.

"Vincent, please let go!" Tifa said, sounding more desperate this time.

Go Tifa, make him stop!

"Anything to say Yuffie?" asked Vincent, not paying Tifa any attention.

NEVER! But did that sound weird, he just told me to talk. Most people can't wait until I just shut my big mouth.

"Vincent Valentine, this is a little rash don't you think?" asked Shelke.

Is she helping me? That's also weird and- Ouch! He is pushing me harder into the wall!

"Pain!" I screamed.

"Show the brat, Vince!" Cid cheered.

Yup, I hate you Cid.

"Cid! Shut up!" said Barret.

But I like you Barret.

"Cloud! Do something!" said Tifa, frantic.

You too Tifa!

"We are going to wake up the children." said Red.

His right, but I'm in too much pain to care right now!

"I think Nanaki is right." said Cloud.

You call that helping Cloud? You good for nothing, chocobo headed, son of a-

"Cloud!" said Tifa, interrupting my wonderful thoughts on Cloud.

You tell him off, Tifa!

This wall smells like old paint, it is disgusting. As if the last six years of hell was not enough.

That's it I give up, damn you to hell Vincent Valentine.

"Ok fine I will tell! You just let me go!" I screamed.

The bar fell silent at my words. Did I ever say I hate it when it is quiet?

"Hey take it easy! I break you know!" I told Vincent as he pushed me into one of the bars chairs painfully.

"We are listening." said Vincent, sounding more than a little upset.

I think someone is in a bad mood today. I am gone for six years, and come back to find that the gentlemen Vincent is now gone and the new Vincent is a jackass. Now then, how to word my dilemma?

"I am not who you think I am..." I whispered.

Oh, that was smooth.

"What do you mean?" asked Shelke, her face completely blank.

"I am not who you think I am." I said again, but louder.

"This is not a joke Yuffie." said Cloud.

"I wish it was. I just want to go back, and stop him maybe then if I told him about her... despite the way he acts. He loves her, but why did he? I just don't get why?" I whispered.

"Who?" asked Barret.

I clap my hands to my mouth. Oh. My. Goodness. Did I just say that out loud! They gave me weird looks, and I dropped my hands to my sides feeling like an idiot.

"That shouldn't have come out of my mouth! I'm sorry but I can't say anymore." I panicked.

If he ever finds out I'm so dead...

"What the hell do you mean?" Cid barked.

"I mean, I can't tell you. You big idiot of an old man." I said annoyed.

Cid was about to say something, but Vincent stopped him with a glare.

"Why can't you?" Vincent demanded.

Will they believe me if I say it? I might as well try. It is not like they are going to let me leave here without saying what I have been up to. I do have the power to leave, but not without causing them and me, some kind of harm. Here goes nothing...

"I just can't! The _oath_ I took... stops me. Even if I try to say it, it will not leave my mouth! Try to understand, this is why I did not want to come back. The life I live is not the same as it was when I was nineteen." I said looking at the floor.

I was not lying this time.

"So you could have come back all this time, but you didn't?" asked Tifa, sounding hurt.

As if! I had things I need to do, even if as selfish as they were. It had to be done in order for me to move on with what I had become.

"No, but the past months yes." I replied.

She sighed at my response.

"What about clues?" asked Nanaki.

Hm, I never thought about that. It could work, maybe.

"Clues…" I repeated. "It may work, but they cannot be spoken plainly or written."

"So in other words you mean a-" begun Shelke.

"Riddle...like thing, yes." I said, cutting her off.

"I could do research to find it." offered Nanaki.

"That could take weeks, maybe months." said Vincent.

Oh, Vincent you're so wrong.

"No." I told Vincent.

"What?" said Cloud.

"It could take years, knowing them." I told them.

I shut my eyes, thinking about it. As I did, I saw a little girl in my mind, begging for her freedom, as tears glide down her small innocent face.

"Like a never ending song for freedom..." I said remembering something I was told a while back.

I slowly opened my eyes; they all sat there, not knowing what to say next. I gazed at the gray painted wall, thinking about the small girl. I need to sleep if I am starting to daydream.

Wait, backup a minute! Song of freedom... that could work! I can say the words, but I can sing! That is not saying them because songs are basically very long riddles. I figured it out, the one gap in the oath!

"I have it!" I screamed suddenly.

"What is it!" Tifa asked happily.

"Get a pen and paper, please." I requested.

"But you said-" began Cloud.

He is still a big pain.

"Just do it!" I snapped.

"I will get them." said Tifa.

I gave her a _real _smile, for the first time in a long time. We all casted our gazes to Tifa, who was at the bar counter; looking for what I asked of her. I watched in amusement, as she began to panic when she couldn't find a pen. I yawned, involuntarily from drowsiness. Everyone glanced at me for second, then back to Tifa. Tifa's their entertainment for the night, I assume. Tifa, unaware that everyone attention was on her had a piece of paper in her mouth. Finally, she found a black pen, and ran back where we were all seated . I waited till she took seat, before I spoke.

"Now, like I said, I can't say or write this. So, I will be singing one a song. It's a really old song. And when I say "old", I mean older then all of us put together. One of you is going to have to write down the lyrics as I sing too." I informed them.

"I will do it!" said Tifa, happy to help in any way.

"Alright, I will start to sing, I guess." I shifted in my sit, wondering how long it will be till my body fails from the pressure I have put it in these past few days. I should tell them that I need some sleep after this.

"Ok ready?" I asked unsure myself, but not letting it show in my voice.

"Yup!" said Tifa.

Who can have this much energy, at this time of night?

"Get ready to see our ears bleed out." snickered Cid, and everyone- except for Shelke and Tifa- smirked.

I'll show him. Cid you are going to take that back, because I can sing for your information. I took in a deep breath and began.

_I see nothing in your eyes  
And the more I see the less I like  
Is it over yet?  
In my head?_

_I know nothing of your kind  
And I won't reveal your evil mind  
Is it over yet?  
I can't win_

_So sacrifice yourself  
And let me have what's left  
I know that I can find  
The fire in your eyes  
I'm goin all the way  
Get away, please_

_You take the breath right out of me  
You left a hole where my heart should be_  
_You've gotta fight just to make it through  
Cause I will be the death of you_

_This will be all over soon  
Pour the salt into the open wound  
Is it over yet?  
Let me in_

_So sacrifice yourself  
And let me have what's left  
I know that I can find  
The fire in your eyes  
I'm goin all the way  
Get away, please_

_You take the breath right out of me  
You left a hole where my heart should be  
You've gotta fight just to make it through  
Cause I will be the death of you_

_(take take take)_

_I'm waiting  
I'm praying  
Realize  
Start hating  
You take the breath right out of me  
you left a hole where my heart should be  
You've gotta fight just to make it through  
Cause I will be the death of you_

"Got it all Tifa?" I asked with a grin.

The look on their faces are priceless! Cid looks like he just got stabbed from behind, same with Cloud. Vincent's usually blank face is unbelieving at the scene that just took place before him. Barret looks shock but weirdly proud. Red, looks shocked for him I suppose. Tifa seems to be happily shocked. Shelke is so shocked I think she got even paler than she already is! It is just hilarious!

"Yeah...um. Yuffie, I never knew you could sing. That was great, just great!" said Tifa slowly, nodding her head.

I showed them, just because I used to talk very loud doesn't mean I can't sing. Some part of me wished for them to know the real me, then again other parts begged for them to never find out the truth. All this thinking is making me even more sleepily, if that was even possible at this point.

"Thanks. The song, it has a meaning. Remember Red, think old. And not human..." I said the last part lower then a whisper.

"I understand Yuffie. You have a very beautiful voice." said Nanaki.

Aw! They are so nice to me! Well... sometimes. I guess they do like me a little bit.

"But what do you mean by "not human". Are you not human?" asked Shelke picking up on my little fact.

At this everyone -but Vincent, Red, and Shelke- laughed. I opened my mouth to answer, but my body had other ideas. My eyes began to flutter close, I tried to blink to keep myself awake. I over did it, I can feel it. The dizziness is taking over my body, my blood turning cold as ice and my vision began to blur. I was going to faint. My knees failed to keep me up, and I fell to the floor feeling my eyes close as everything went pitch black.

* * *

That's all for now- hope it wasn't to bad!

Till next time,  
Nami


	2. New Promise

Ok, it's time for chapter two. Sorry for the late update, schools a time killer. Let's see, I believe we left off from Yuffie fainting right off her chair...

(The things that are italic mean things that were said in the past.)

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

* * *

New Promise

I woke up breathing heavily and screaming. I moved my hair away from my face, what a nightmare. Gawd, they just never stop haunting my dreams. I looked around the small room I was in. I sat up trying to remember how I had gotten here. Song...sleepy...chair... floor...Oh yeah! I fainted on the chair.

"Dang, my head hurts, that floor was hard. How do I get myself into things like this? I mean how cool is that, fainting in front of everyone? They should put a sign on my back- Warning: problems love me." I sighed, falling back on the bed.

"Warning?" said a deep voice.

I sat up wide wake. What the hell was that? I don't see anyone else here…

"Great, now the room is talking to me, I couldn't get crazier!" I hugged the pillow to my chest, thinking about how crazy a person might have to be to hear rooms talking to them.

"The room isn't talking to you, Yuffie." said the same voice.

Oh. My. Gawd. It knows my name! OK, calm, Yuffie, stay calm... Well, It's coming from behind me but there is a wall behind me. I turned around and looked behind the bed, only to see that the small room was now very large and the wall I thought was there wasn't there. On the other side of the room there was one bed, a chair, and many boxes. Sitting on the bed was no other then Vincent Valentine. It appears he was reading before he caught me ranting to myself. Well, now I know I'm not losing my mind…yet.

"Um, Vincent?" I asked.

"Yes?" he replied.

He speaks! Oh yeah I learn that yesterday…that big jerk that freak'n hurt! I wonder if his mad at me, all that anger had to come from somewhere. He put his book down on the bed and turned to get a better look at me.

"Are you upset with me?" I questioned quietly.

"It depends on how you look at it." he said, getting up from the bed.

So he is mad at me, but he apparently doesn't want to talk about it. At least I don't think he does. He may want me to say I'm sorry. Hmm...

"Oh, I see." I said standing up with him.

"What time is it?" I asked.

I saw him walk over to a box where his phone was. Opening his phone, he looked at the screen and said.

"4:35"

"Wow! How long was I sleeping?"

"Four days."

"What? Four days? No freak'n way!"

"Yes, Yuffie, four days."

Insert long silence here.

"So Vince, where are we?" I finally asked.

"Full of questions, aren't you?" he said looking at me.

I walked over to him and poked him in the chest, playfully.

"You have to ask?" I said grinning up at him.

He raised an eyebrow at me. I smiled back at him.

"Where at Tifa's bar. Cid and Reeve added a few things to it around two years ago." said Vincent.

I watch as he walked to the door. Opening the door, he exited without a glance back. Same old Vinnie.

I ran to catch up to him, seeing I wasn't that far behind anyway. When I got to him he was about to go down the stairs. I beat him to it, before I went down I looked up at him.

"Vince. I'm not sorry, you know." I told him with a plain face.

Without looking back to see if he was angry or not, I turned around once more and walked down the stairs. I found myself at the back of the bar. In what seemed to be a living area, I see what Vinnie meant. Looking around I saw that everyone was up and around. Tifa was talking to a teenager looking a lot like Marlene. Wait- that was Marlene! She looks almost the same but more older. Well, duh Yuffie! It's been six years! I noticed she still had a pink ribbon in her hair, I had given up mine a long time ago. I closed my eyes, thinking about those four years with Avalanche. Life was so easy then, so free. I opened them when I felt Vincent's human hand on my shoulder.

"Yuffie." Vincent said.

I turned to face him.

"Yes, Vince?"

"I know." he said.

"I never said that you didn't." I told him.

I turned back to the group, smiling at them, seeing just how much six years can change. It hurt to know I wasn't here to see that change.

"So you are back." said Marlene, I couldn't place her tone.

"Yeah, I guess so." I told her.

"Why?" she said glaring at me.

"Why what?" I asked confused.

"Why did you leave?" she screamed looking, her eyes burning a hole right through me.

Great now her too. Why can't they just get over it? Well, I can't blame them too much. I would be upset if I was in their position, but it's not like it could have been helped.

"It had to be done, talking about the past can't change it." I replied.

"So, you don't even care that all this time you were gone we were missing you? You bitch!" she said standing up from the sofa.

My mouthed opened in surprise, someone wasn't an innocent little girl anymore.

"Marlene!" Tifa scolded.

Marlene turned to Tifa, I could see where this was about to go. This girl was about to say something that she had no idea about, she was about to judge someone without any evidence to prove her theory, she was about to start something she didn't want to start with me.

"No Tifa, who the hell does she think she is? All I ever heard was, how fun she was to be around. How funny and sweet, she was. I heard Cid call her a brat before, but I never knew that the woman I use to call my Auntie was so full of herself!" she stated.

"You might have known me when you were younger Marlene, but that doesn't mean you know me now. If you want to look at it that way, sure I'm a bitch. But who the hell do _you _think you are? Telling me I a selfish!" I snapped at her.

"Why are you getting so upset? Because you know I'm right! You are selfish bitch!" she said, her words hit a cord in me and I snapped.

"Do _you_ know what I been through these past six years? No. Do _you_ know how many time I wished I could just die? No. Do _you_ know what real solitude feels like? No. Do _you_ know why I left? No. Do _you _know what true pain feels like? No. Do _you_ know what it's like to go to sleep knowing tomorrow will be hell too? No. Do _you_ know what it is like to watch people you love die, one by one in front of you? No. Do _you _know what it is like thinking that no one will ever find you? No. Do _you_ cry yourself to sleep every night? No. Do _you_ ever feel scared of yourself? No. Do _you_ ever think that it would be easier if you just died on that experimenting table? No. Have _you _even been heartbroken? No, No, No! So shut your mouth!" by the time this was all said I had tears flowing down my face, my body shaking from all of the emotions running through me.

Marlene was lost of words, but I couldn't stop myself.

"Don't you ever tell me what I am! Because you don't even know what the hell I been through! So, I think that next time you want to speak you should take a second to think about what you say!" I screamed at her.

I was breathing deeply, as I turned to Tifa who had tears on her face too. But I'm sure they weren't for the same reason mine were for. Gosh, I'm so confused right now. I don't know what I want, or what I'm going to do. All I know for sure is I can't stay here. If I stay here I know I will lose it. I was hysterical and it terrified me.

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Tifa. I'm sorry if I gave you a scare, I didn't mean to faint. I'll see you later. Please don't come after me, I will come back." I promised.

"When?" asked Cid, he seemed to be in a daze.

"Soon." I said, not knowing if it was lie or not.

I push a frozen Vincent lightly out of my way as I ran out the room and back up the stairs. I wiped the tears from by face as I looked around for my backpack. When I found it I grabbed it with shaking hands, running back down the stairs and out of the living room. I pushed open the door to the real bar, the bar of course was still closed. I ran up to the door I swung it open, and continued to run until I was almost a block away.

I don't know where I am going, but anywhere is better than here. Anything, is better than their anger and pity. That bastard sent me here because he knew that they would hate me for what I did. If they knew what I am I'm sure they would hate me for it. Why can't I face my fears of them? Aren't they my friends? Why must I runaway? Runaway is what I am good at, it's easy to runaway. It's hard to face things you don't want to face. But why is this happening to me? I don't get it! Why? Why me?

When I saw that I was in front of Aeris's old church I stopped running. My tears stopped for a moment and I walked into the church. Dropping my backpack on the floor, I looked around until my eyes landed at the little pond of water. This is where it all started. Right here.

"_Please don't let her be dead, I will do anything, but don't let her leave us. I can't live knowing she gone."_

"_Maybe if he wasn't so crazy I wouldn't have kill him. No, I never wanted him dead. The more I think about it, the more I know. I wanted him to stay with us. Both of them, I want us to be a team again. I don't want them gone. Please let them come back."_

"_Don't leave me... please... I can't watch you die like this... I love you..come back..." _

"_I just got to know you, don't leave me here. I want to get to know you..."_

"_If anything happens to her I don't think I could take it. She's like my own kid, don't let her die on us."_

"_He was the last thing of my past. The one she loved, I did not want him dead. Why must it end like this? I wish it had not..."_

"_They were just lost, not crazy, just lost. Maybe if the got an other chance it would be better. I want them to have another chance, give them one more chance."_

My heart went numb.

"You know I just want to move on. To live and then die. I want to be a human again. I know it may sound selfish but I want to be happy, even if it's for one minute. But I can't. I'm not here for me, this isn't for me, I can't let be this way. Mom, I wanted to see you again. I was just a kid, but I remember what it was like to be a family. Dad and you, I miss him too. Mommy it's not fair! Please mom, help me, please..." I fell to the ground crying, hugging my knees to me.

"Life is hard, I know that, but this hell we live isn't life..."

"_Nothing can change, Yuffie. This is what we are and always will be." _

I guess you were right, nothing will change. Why can't I just get over it? Why am I so weak? Why do I cry about it? Haven't I cried enough? I have had it with myself! No more tears! This is what I am, it will not change. Cry over it won't change anything. I know what I must do.

I got up off the floor and walked over to my bag. Opening it I searched for a ninja star, when I found one I stood up, placing the sharp point to my palm. I began to cut into my skin, when I got deep enough to draw blood I moved it into the shape of a rose. The pain brought back memories, memories I am not too fond of. When finished I looked up.

"This here is my promise, I will no longer cry about what I am. From here on out, not one tear will be shed because of who I am. This is my promise, with the blood on my hand, I will see to it that it shall never be broken." I said into sky.

I got a small green towel and some water out of my bag. After cleaning out the wound with the towel and water, I watched it. In a few minutes of being opened it closed, nothing left to prove it was even there. I started to think about what about I just did, and began to laugh. I'm going emo, great we can add that to the list of things that are wrong with me.

"Mom, I going now. I hope you're watching..." I whispered.

Putting the water bottle and towel back into the small backpack I closed it, putting it back on. Turning around I made my way back into the streets, thinking about the promise I just made.

So where to go? Tifa's? No. Another bar? Yeah, getting a drink sounds good right about now. I wonder if I can even get drunk? Oh well, first we have to find a bar! There should be a map somewhere around here. Wait, I could just ask someone that looks smart-ish.

"Hey, person in the green! Stop! Wait! Don't walk away damnit!"

* * *

Yeah, I know it's weird. I do have a plot, or more like I will have a plot. If you have a question just ask. I will answer if it doesn't mess up my upcoming plot. I will try to update soon. Thanks to those peoples that reviewed!

Till next time,  
Nami


	3. Having Some Fun

I haven't updated in forever. So, I thought it was time to update! Also, I am babysitting right now and bored out of my mine. And I think I just heard something break (sighs).

Disclaimer: Well, it's kinda in chapter one but whatever. I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Cause if I did Yuffie and Vincent would be together by now!

* * *

Having Some Fun

"Hey! Wait up!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

The man finally stopped so I could walk up to him. Couldn't he hear me calling him before? Oh, whatever. But really, this guy has to be the fastest walking human alive!

"Something wrong, Miss?" the man asked me.

He looked as if he was in his late twenties. He had on a green t-shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes. His hair was brown and short, but it was long enough to be spiked- which it was. All around, he was the kind of guy teenage girls would go crazy for in high school.

"No, not really. See I haven't been in Midgar for a while and I was wondering if you know any good bars around here?" I told him.

One of his eyebrows shot up.

"Do I look like an alcoholic to you? " he asked.

He didn't look like an alcoholic. He in fact looked like the kind of person that never even stepped foot in a bar actually. Maybe I should have asked someone else.

"Umm, no?" I smiled at him.

His cold attitude disappear immediately, it seemed as if he just realized something important. He smiled back at me.

"I was just joking. There is one around the street it's called 'The Seventh Heaven'. The owner is Tifa, you'll like her she's nice to just about everyone." he informed me.

I sighed and shook my head. Dang, Tifa do all the guys love you or what? But I knew about _that _bar already.

"What's wrong?" he asked me.

"I just came from there." I replied.

"I see, you don't like it there. Let's see, there is one a few blocks from here. If you want to go I'll get you a drink. Still, Seventh Heaven is the best. Anyway, wanna come along?"

Going to a bar with an complete stranger? That's something my father would behead me for. But hell why not? As if my life could get any worse than it is now. If the man wants a drink, let's go get one!

"Sounds great! Let's go!"

We are off to see the bar the wonderful bar of Midgar! This is going to be fun! Well, it better be or I feel sorry for this guy standing next to me. Cause I will hang him upside down on a building if this bar doesn't have good drinks. I could also make him drink oil and then set him on fire, while he is hanging upside down. I could even make him wear a pink dress with some pink shoes and-

"I'm Ian by the way." he said, cutting of my wonderful thoughts.

"Hi! I'm Yuffie!" I told him happily.

"Nice to meet you, Yuffie." said Ian.

" Right back at you. So, Ian, how old are you?" I asked.

Here comes one million questions time! Get ready, Ian!

"Twenty-eight. You?" he said.

"Twenty-five. Schools?" Wow, he answered!

"Finished last year. You?"

"I was in trained to be a ninja."

"So, your from Wutai?"

"Yup, my dad was old fashion you could say. Gay or straight?"

He laughed at this one.

"Straight. You?"

"Same. Favorite color?"

"Green. You?"

"Yays, I love green! It's an amazing color! Umm, Favorite ice cream?"

"Chocolate. You?"

"Strawberry. Favorite day of the week?"

"I would have to say Friday. You?"

"Tuesday! Favorite hobby?"

"Photographing. You?"

"Talking. Favorite song?"

"Crash and Burn. You?"

"Friend or foe. Favorite food?"

"Pasta. You?"

"Sushi. Favorite place to be?"

"Beaches. You?"

"Cherry blossom forests, wow, it sounds weird when I say it out loud."

"Not that weird."

"Your turn!"

"For what?"

"Asking me a question!"

"Well, is a boyfriend of yours going to come hunting me down anytime soon?" Ian said smiling.

This was another way of asking me if I was dating anyone. Typical guy, can't ask a simple question.

"Nope!" I told him.

He laughed again, just as we came to a stop.

"Well, here we are." he stated.

I looked up at the sign.

"_Mike's Bar_. Oh, that's original." I sighed.

" Hey, a bar is a bar. Right?" Ian said smiling.

"Well, what are we waiting here for? Let's go find out!" I said grinning ear to ear.

When we got into the bar we took some seats in the way back- I don't why cause the bar was almost completely empty. The bar itself was painted black but it wasn't that dark. The walls had black and white pictures of different people on them. The tables were wooden, a dark brown color. The tables also matched the chairs perfectly. Obviously, it came as a set. The bar altogether was totally old fashion, but cute in its own little way. I saw the bartender walk up to us, he looked to be in his late 60's. I wasn't surprised, he seemed to match this place pretty well.

"What will you two have today?" asked the bartender.

"Umm, something fruity but not too weak." I told him.

"Alright, I'll surprise you." he told me smiling.

"And you, sir?" he asked Ian.

"Beer, any kind. As long as it's good."

The bartender nodded before going to get our drinks.

So, our first drinks came and I started up a conversation about what Ian did for a job. He was an photographer. Soon after that came the second drinks. Then, when we got our third drinks and Ian was starting to look a little down. Next, he started to stare at me in complete focus, as if he was trying to read my mind.

"Something wrong, Ian?" I asked him while taking a drink.

"Yuffie, to tell you the truth you don't seem like the kind of person that who will come to a bar with someone you don't know." he told me, glancing at the drink on the table.

His word hurt more than they should have. Ian wasn't even saying anything wrong. Yet, I felt like he was.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked.

"Why did you come with me?" asked Ian.

"Didn't you ask me to come with you?" I questioned, confused about why he even cared.

"I did but I was sure you would say no."

"If you don't want me to be here I can leave."

"No, I want you here. All I'm saying is, why did you come in the first place?"

"…I…Well, I…" I didn't know what to tell him.

A few minutes went by, I looked away from him.

"I'm sorry, Yuffie. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. Just forget I said anything." he sounded worried.

I pushed my drink to the side, and laid my head on the small wooden table. Why is everyone in this world starting to care about me out of nowhere? Can't I get a break for a few hours, jeez.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, Ian. I just don't know what to tell you. If that even makes any sense." I sighed.

I felt I hand on my head. Lifting it up I saw Ian smiling at me. He patted my head as if I was a child. By doing this I knew he understood. It felt good to know that someone in this world understood what I meant, even for a few moments. Pushing his hand off my head, I grinned up at him.

"Hey!" I said laughing. " No patting of my head unless I say so."

"Sorry, oh great one!" he said putting his head down as if bowing to me.

"Yeah you better bow to my greatness!" I told him giggling.

After a few more minutes of laughing Ian thought it was getting late. I noticed how dark it got, and wondered where I would go tonight.

"How about we get out of here. I'll walk you home." he told me.

"Sure, I'm sleepily anyway. " I said yawning.

We walked out of the bar, this time as we walked in silence. No question were asked, which I was thankful for. I looked up, the night sky was one of the only things that could calm me down nowadays. The dazzling stars shone in the darkness, like a sign of pure hope. We just kept on walking. I was leading him to Tifa's bar, it's not like I had anywhere else to go really. He didn't seem to notice I stopped right in front of the building.

"Oh, here the Seventh Heaven bar I was talking about. So, where do you live?" asked Ian.

"Hehe, about that… I'm sorta staying at The Seventh Heaven."

"How? Tifa only allows friends to stay with her. And her friends are all from- Oh, I see. Yuffie Kisaragi am I right?"

"Yeah that's me!" I faked a smile.

He knew it was fake. I don't know how he knew but he did. He knew when the others couldn't tell. Well, I'm sure the others couldn't tell. If they could I had gigantic problem on my hands.

"Yuffie?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing, but for a minute there your eyes looked blood red. It's was probably just the light coming from stars, though."

Oh, no. They promised me I would be able to handle this. That I wouldn't lose control. They told me I was one for a long enough time to control it. Maybe I should go see them again? Nononono! I need to stay calm, it was just the stars. Just breathe, breathe, breathe. Acted it off. Just acted it off, I can do this.

"Really?" I said in what would be a shocked voice.

"Yeah, it was weird." said Ian.

I laughed. He was buying this act so far. If I could pull it off for a few more moments I would be ok. I would be safe.

"Stars the so pretty aren't they. I mean, they even change the color of our-"

"YUFFIE!"

Out of nowhere the body of the screamer came running into me. What in the world is wrong with Tifa these days? Am I a hugging toy suddenly? Or what? Not only is she hugging the life out of me but she is crying at the same time. Unbelievable.

"Tifa… c-can't…b-breathe..!"

She let me go, thank the Gawd! But now Ian is looking at us like we are crazy.

"Oh, Yuffie I was so worried! I thought you wouldn't come back." she sobbed.

"Tifa, I told you I was coming back." I sighed.

"I know Cloud was telling me that. I should have listened to him!" she said wiping her eyes.

"Well, umm, can you give me a minute? I asked.

"Sure, I'll be inside ok?" she said seeing Ian for the first time, which put a smirk on her face.

I nodded to her, thinking that, that was easier then I had thought it would be. Tifa went back inside, only looking back one more time to wink at me. Ugh, she really reminded me of mothers.

"Do I want to know what that was?" Ian asked.

"I tell you next time, it a long sad life story thing." I sighed.

"That's great."

I stared at him.

"No, it's great because there will be an next time. Not your sad life."

"Aw, that so sweet, Ian." I gave him a small hug.

"Well, I got to go before Tifa totally flips." I said looking at the bar.

"Bye, Yuffie. You'll see more of me. That's an promise."

"See-ya!" I waved while opening the door to the Seventh Heaven.

Tifa was nowhere to be found. Weird. Looking around I saw Vincent sitting at a table staring at the wall with hatred. No, he wasn't looking at wall, he was looking at the window. I looked closer to see that he was watching Ian walk away. The door closed. Hearing the noise, Vincent's crimson eyes glared towards me.

* * *

I know it sucks…. I sorry if there are mistakes I didn't read it over after I typed. Like I said I'm babysitting and I really have to get off the computer. Oh, and very soon we will learn what happened to Yuffie. If you have any questions ask way! Thanks to the people who are reviewing if it wasn't for you I wouldn't still be writing this. You get hugs!

Till next time,  
Nami


	4. Anger At Night

I am trying to work on updating faster :(

This chapter is very short but that's how it was meant to be. Sorry, next time will be longer, promise!

Remember: _Italics _mean it was said in those six years Yuffie was gone.

Disclaimer: See chapy one.

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Anger At Night

What's with that look his giving me? It's like Lucrecia just came back to life magically and I killed her again. It could happen you know! How many times has Sephiroth decided he would come back from the dead? The freak just doesn't get the point! When you die you _stay _dead. Well, I shouldn't be talking… No, if I killed the dead chick Vincent would do more than glare. Maybe I offend him by walking inside? He could maybe enjoy his Vincent alone time? No, he was glaring before I walked in and-

"Yuffie."

Oh dang it, he sounds pissed. This can't possibly end well…

"Um, hey, Vince! I'm back! Well, you can see that- Can't you? Cause if you can't maybe you should go to the doctor. You could be going blind! That would be horrible! Come on your going to the doctor right now! Get your jacket on, Vinnie! Oh, I forgot you have a cape! Whatever, let's go! Jeez, the doctor won't hurt you. What are you waiting for? You could-"

"Who was that man?" Vincent said as if I had said nothing at all.

"Huh? Vincent your eyes are more important then-"

"How many times am I going to tell you not to play dumb with me, Yuffie?" he snapped.

"Well, it's none of your business." I told him coldly.

"No, you're right. It's Tifa's." he said.

"What?" I asked.

"You stay here, Yuffie, you follow the rules." he said as if misbehaved like a some child.

"I'm not a teenager anymore, Vincent! I can take care of myself! Tifa's not my mother!"

"You may be a adult but in your mind you are still a child."

"Well, in your mind you are still an ass whole!"

"Think what you wish."

"You bet I will! Don't you dare ever imply that I'm a child! I know more about pain and misery than you will ever know! So, what if you had some unrequited love? Or was experiment on my her and her crazy husband? I have had it worse and I don't go around all goth like!"

"Then what makes you more miserable then I was Yuffie?"

"Oh, I don't know? Maybe the fact that I should have never existed in the first place!"

"Have you forgotten who you are talking to?" he was much calmer than me.

That made me angry, which was very dangerous at night.

"No, I haven't! You're still human! You don't- you don't…" I started to hyperventilate.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Yuffie! Why am I doing this again? Why I'm a getting so upset? Vincent, why did you push! You could have let it go, like anyone else would have. Now, look what's happening to me. My body was shaking, I felt colder. I closed my eyes, falling to the floor. I'm losing control. I can't lose control!

"Yuffie? Yuffie!" Vincent screamed.

"_When you lose control, Yuffie. Grab your heart, squeeze, and pull a little. The pain should make you faint, which will stop you from transforming." _

"_But how? My heart isn't-"_

"_Just do it, don't asked questions." _

"Yuffie? Yuffie! Can you hear me?" Vincent panicked.

Fear flew into me, I can't do it. I heard people running down the stairs. No, they should be running away. Not running to me. I have to do it. No, time for freaking out. If I don't do it they could all be killed by me.

"Yuffie! Vincent what's happening to her?" I heard Tifa scream.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Barret.

"Yuffie, get your ass off the ground! Yuffie get up!" Cid panicked.

"Yuffie, hold on! Someone give me the phone!"

NO! Don't call anyone! Opening my eyes I saw everyone around me, panicking. My vision was becoming blood red. I had to hurry!

"Don't call anyone!" I screamed out in agony.

"What the hell is with her eyes?"

"Maybe she has a virus? Cloud, do something!"

"Do what! I don't know what's happening to her!"

Now, I had to do it NOW. Lifting my shaking hand I pushed it towards my heart. My nails grew longer at my own will. Digging my nails into my chest I searched for my unbeaten heart. I felt my bones break. It hurt but I've had worse.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Are those her real nails?"

"This is getting fuck'n freaking!"

"Yuffie, are you trying to kill yourself?"

"Stop her!"

Finding it before they could stop me. I gave my heart a squeeze and lightly pulled. Screaming out in pain, I felt the transformation stop. But my body was failing me, I was going to faint. Again. It still amazes me that our hearts need to be pulled out and burned in order for us to die…

"Don't take me to the hospital…" I mumbled out.

"Look! She healing, the wounds are closing!"

"What the hell…"

"Yuffie…"

Their amazed voices were all I heard before I fell into the dark blackness. I'm so sorry…

* * *

Wow, a lot of chaos is going on in this chapy. And I, of course, love it! Well, now you have some clues. If someone can figure out what Yuffie has turned into. You guys all get a _sneak peek_! Yay! If you can't, then you just have to wait. I might give it to you if you are close too.

Question: What has Yuffie become in the last six years?

Clues:

-Red eyes

-Heart doesn't beat

-Long nails

-Can't die easily

-Strongest when it's dark outside

-Can stay awake for days

-Can turn into something like a monster or what someone would call a monster (that one was obvious)

Write your answer in a review or send me in a message. Just think a little. If you know me outside fanfiction, this one is a no brainier. The next chapter will be up soon. Very soon. You will also learn what Yuffie is in that chapter. Be ready.

Till next time,  
Nami


	5. Hard Truth

Okay, I know I take forever to update. I just forget about things really fast. To fast for my own good sometimes but yeah. Here's the next chapter. Sorry about the wait.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII. I think we all know that. :)

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Hard Truth

I will not open my eyes. I will not look them in the face. I will not see their shock. I will not let them see me awake. I will not open my eyes. I will not, not, not, not, not….

"Think she's ok?" I heard Tifa's worried voice ask.

"I think so…" said Cloud unsure himself.

"But what on earth was that?" asked Cid.

"Maybe she's like a demon or something." said Marlene.

What?

"Yuffie is no demon." said Vincent.

Damn right. Demon, as if! Even if that kinda close….

"Then what was with all that?" asked Barrett.

"…I don't know." answered Vincent.

"Then I'm sticking with my idea." said Marlene.

"Poor Yuffie." said Tifa.

There was a loud bang from down stairs. I opened my eyes right away, the horror washing through me. It couldn't be them…could it?

"YUFFIE! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Yup, it's them. Can things get any worse?

"Oh shit." I said.

Everyone looked at me, their faces were more then shocked. Tifa was trying to speak but was having a hard time finding the right words.

"Yuffie… I…your…I mean…what?"

"WHERE ARE YOU!"

I sighed. This can't go well.

"I'm upstairs." I said normally.

She would hear me, I would have heard her too. The screaming was really unnecessary. Hmm, that is kinda funny coming from me.

"Who is that?" asked Marlene.

"The only reason I'm here right now." I answered.

The door burst open. A girl around the age of Tifa came into view. She had long brown hair, that was tied a braid with a light pink ribbon. Her beautiful face, was turned into a dark glance that was pointed in my direction. She was wearing a baby blue sun dress. On the bottom of the dress was two intertwining pink flowers. The dress went up to her knees. She also had on some matching blue flip flops.

"Yuffie." she growled.

Everyone in the room gasped at the familiar face. Gawd, she's scary when she's mad.

"Aeris." I stated.

"Oh, don't you Aeris me! What were you thinking!" she screamed at me.

"Calm down. I'm fine." I said.

"CALM DOWN? You almost gave me a heart attack!" Aeris snapped.

"We can't get heart attacks." I told her.

She glared at me.

"I would have really thought differently an hour ago! I come back to the castle with lunch, only to see Zack walking back and forth, have his own little flip out moment. 'Should we come get you or keep you here?' Everyone was totally freaking out. You could have killed yourself! Do you know what you did to us?" said Aeris.

"I'm fine, really. No need to worry. You should have stayed home." I said.

"You gave me a real scare, Yuffie." she told me sitting down on the corner of the bed.

She was going to play the guilty card. I sighed. I wasn't going to get off this very easily.

"I can't do anything right these days, can I?" I asked her.

"No, you can't. But no one can blame you. We all learned differently." Aeris said, trying to make me feel better.

"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" asked Cid.

Both Aeris and I turned, facing the forgotten people around us.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot about you guys." said Aeris.

"Forgot?" said Tifa finding her voice again.

"Yeah. Let's see, how much has Yuffie told you?" asked Aeris.

"Nothing!" said Marlene.

"Well, in that case. I'll need some help, I don't know the whole story…. Who should I call Yuffie?" she said turning back to me.

"Call Zack." I told her.

"Why can't Yuffie tell us?" asked Cid.

"She made an oath." said Aeris as if it was obvious.

Aeris took out an phone from the small belt on her hip. Her phone looked cool and all, but it really freaks me out. She always laughs at me for it.

"Call Zack." she told her phone.

"Calling Zack." said the phone.

It started to ring. That phone is really weird, no joke. I mean it talks back to you! Phone's shouldn't do that!

"Hello?" answered a male voice.

"Zack, we need you here. Sooner would be better than later." said Aeris.

"I'm coming."

The line disconnected.

"He sounds kinda upset." I told Aeris.

"No kidding." she said rolling her eyes.

"Zack?"

Everyone glanced at Cloud. His face was a mixture of anger and sadness. I didn't dare say a word. I know when to keep my big mouth shut, well most of the time that is.

Cloud stood to his feet, leaving the room with a loud bang by the door. I closed my eyes when I heard the Fenrir turn on. Tifa ran to the window, she looked around for a second then came back to sit next to my bed. It was weird how so many people could fix themselves around this really small bed.

"He's gone. But he'll be back before diner. We made a promise." Tifa nodded as she spoke.

"I know he will." said Aeris.

Tifa smiled at her. That's Aeris. She makes everyone feel better about themselves. Our little helper, my little helper. More than she'll ever know, I just hope it stays that way.

"How long was a out?" I asked.

"Not that long." said Tifa,

"Six hours." said Barret.

What is with me and six these days? Isn't that a bad number or something?

"That's good." said Aeris.

Barret looked at her in a way as if wondering if she was still had her sanity. Aeris laughed at him, I smiled.

"She had enough time to heal." Aeris explained.

Barret's eyes went back to me. That's went I figured out that everyone's focus in the room was on _me_. I really hated it; I hated knowing I made them worry. I realized no one knew what to say, or what to start with exactly. Of course, the silence was killing me once again. I was thankful when Aeris began to speak.

"Yuffie, I have a question." she said.

Take that back, it was much better quiet. I hate Aeris's damn questions. I swear sometimes they make you feel like you just killed a puppy. Her puppy.

"Yes?" I sighed.

"Who told you how to do that?"

She wasn't going to asking me if I learned on my own. She knew someone told me, that much was clear. Her mind doesn't side track, not when it's something important. She knew someone told me what to do when I lose control. She wasn't going to like my answer. I wonder if I should tell her? She would flip out….

"Yuffie?" she asked.

"He didn't mean any harm." I told her.

"He." she repeated.

I could almost see her mind working out the answer. The curiousness faded from her face. She knew the answer. I watched her as face twisted into anger and her hands clenched up into fists.

"I'm going to kill Hojo." she growled.

"Aeris." I whined.

"This is unbelievable! I told him not to tell you, didn't I? How dare he? He knew you would do anything in order not to hurt anyone. He knew! Yet, he told you anyway. I can't believe he could be so-" her rant wouldn't stop.

"Aeris! Hojo didn't mean any harm. He was trying to protect me." I reasoned with her.

"Hojo?" Vincent asked.

"Later Vincent. Protect you from what, Yuffie?" Aeris snapped.

"Well that's easy. Me." I said pointing at myself.

"That's not true. You're not a danger to yourself. Hojo was lying to you." she said each word clearly.

"Oh please! Hojo wasn't lying, he would never lie to me! _You're_ a good liar Aeris. But I'm not falling for it. I know what I am." I told her.

"It will take-" I cut her short.

I knew what she was going to say, I didn't want to hear it. Just how many times have I heard it? 'It will take some time.' 'Give it time' 'Time is the key.' Well, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of all of it. No one has taken as much time as me, no one.

"We both know I'm right, let's stop faking it." I said.

Her arms crossed, she wasn't giving up that easily. Aeris wanted to believe the lies, just as I once had. She hated the fact that I wasn't going to gain control over myself. Yet, she knew that it was indeed a _fact_. Deep down we all knew.

The only one who stopped trying to get me to think otherwise was Hojo. Instead he tried to help me live with it, to move on with my so called life. That's why Aeris is so upset. She doesn't want him to kill my hope. Which I find funny because my hope has been long dead. Hojo won't have killed it if I still had it. Aeris was just making things harder for both of us. Her and Me.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, as if she was reading my mind.

Then stupidly, I burst out laughing. She looked back at me in shock. I don't know why I found it so funny, I just did. It was one of those times were you feel like you lost your mind. Yet, it doesn't really feel that way. You feel great, for the first time in a long time…**.**You feel free.

I think Aeris got it, cause she started to laugh with me. Then she snorted, I almost died. It was funniest thing I ever heard. I pointed and laughed harder. Soon the whole room was laughing. I looked at Vincent, I never heard him laugh before. It sounded amazing. Was it normal to think things like that? Oh, I hope so…. Cause if that jerk made me have-No! Stop thinking about it!

Time flew by. I don't know just how long we sat there laughing, it felt like forever. But it slowly stopped, like everything good, it ended.

Aeris looked at me sadly, my smile faded away. I understood how she felt. This whole time she did everything in her power to make me believe something that wasn't true. She failed, I don't believe her and she knows it. It's harder to face the truth, than to live in the lie.

" The truth hard, isn't it?" I asked her.

She didn't get to answer, Cloud had just walked back into the room. He was looking to the floor. No one had heard him come back. I guess we were laughing to hard.

"Look, I shouldn't have walked out like that. I-"

"It's fine. No harm done." I told him.

He looked at me, the others all nodded. Enough sadness for one day, I think. It really starting to depress me more.

I looked at the time, it was nine in the morning. Where was Zack? He should have been here my now. I looked at Aeris, she understood and pulled out her phone again.

"Call Zack." she told it.

"Calling Zack." said the phone.

It rang and rang. The noise was making me dizzy for some odd reason. He didn't pick up, Aeris called again. She looked calm, even if I knew she was freaking out on the inside. Finally after five calls, he picked up.

"Aeris." he stated.

"Zack! Why didn't you answer? Do you want me to flip out?" Aeris asked.

"Sorry, but I'm busy. Hojo is not in his best mood today." Zack told her.

"Bet his not." Aeris almost growled.

"How's Yuffie?" said Zack ignoring her comment.

"Yuffie's fine, alive and awake." she told him looking at me with a smile.

"I can't come today. I'll call you when I can. Can she hear me?" he asked.

Aeris gave me another look, obviously wanting me to answer.

"Yup. I'm here." I told the weird phone thingy.

"Good. Listen very carefully, one more move like that and I'll make sure you're back home in a matter of seconds. Got it?"

"Yes, oh great leader." I said sarcastically.

"Yuffie, I mean it. Aeris will stay there tell I inform both of you differently."

He was going to hang up, I knew it. He has this thing of hanging up after giving orders. But I still had to tell him something.

"Zack! Wait!" I screamed.

"What is it?" he sounded worried for a second.

"Tell Hojo it's not his fault. Please?" I begged.

This time Aeris growled, she wasn't his biggest fan at the moment.

"Will do, stay safe." the line went dead.

Zack really wasn't himself today; I must have really made them worry. I hope Hojo isn't felling guilty, but why else would he be in a bad mood?

"Hmm, no Zack…**. **And he'll probably take forever to get here." said Aeris.

"What are you trying to saying?" I asked.

"I'm saying it's question time." Aeris smirked.

This also cannot go well**. **I should have just stayed home, all these problems wouldn't have happened. And I _really_ don't like the look on Aeris's face.

* * *

I'm writing the next chapter tomorrow, I hope i have enough time... Well, now I have to go fix the sneak peekies. There are people I haven't talked about yet but you'll learn about them sometime in the next chapters. Also, Aeris and Zack _will _be a couple. Tifa is with Cloud in the story, there isn't going to be a love triangle between them. Oh and Yuffie doesn't have a thing for Hojo. I know fangirls have weird pairings and all, but no… I saw this one about Yuffie/Vincent/ Sephy. Scared for life. Anyways, please review!

Till next time,  
Nami


	6. Questions Suck

I'm sooorrrrryyyy! I said I would update and didn't cause my brain-my brain...uhm, it kinda went proof! And then I didn't know how to word this chapter at all. I swear it took like forever to write, no joke. My mind might have just died while writing it. It was so.. (Thinks about the right word to use)... frustrating! Yupps, that's the right word for it. If you want you can even kill me for it, well, pretend to kill me. Anyways on to the chapter, it's long this time. :)

_Italics: _Things said in the six years Yuffie was gone. Please note that Yuffie isn't thinking about these. This is me giving you some info that might help you later on in the story. Well, I hope it does.

Disclaimer: You know the drill, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Sadly, I'm just another crazy fangirl….

* * *

Questions suck

She was trying to kill me. There was no denying it.

"Aeris, please, not now." I complained.

Out of all the things we could do, she wants to do the one that will totally make me run away crying, again. I had a promise to _try_ keep after all. Besides, I know very well from past experience that questions suck. They suck a whole lot. The suck more than anything. No, really they suck. Did I mention they suck?

"What? Don't you think they want some answers?" she said smirking.

I glared, she was only smirking cause she knew she was right. She knew I was wrong. She knew, she knew, she knew. And it really got under my skin that she was knew so much about me. I hadn't even told her most of it.

"I hate you," I lied, she didn't believe it though.

"I'll take that as a yes." Aeris replied grinning.

I rolled my eyes at her. She would have taken anything as an yes. Even if I screamed, "NO!" as loud as I could. To bad I didn't have the guts to do that. People think Aeris doesn't get mad, ha, yeah riiiigghtt. She would rip your head off in a matter of seconds if you really, _really, _really ticked her off.

"Whatever." I told her crossing my arms.

I watched as she glanced around the room for a moment. I took this time to lay back into the bed. I had I feeling I would soon be dragged out of it. I watch as Aeris frowned at the walls. Something was apparently bugging her.

"Hmm, this room is way to crowded... Oh I know! Let's go in the living room." Aeris said happily, turning around to face everyone surrounding the small bed.

As they nodded in agreement, I sighed. To be honest I wasn't up for this. I wasn't up for anything at the moment. Suddenly the bed felt really comfortable….I didn't want to move even one tiny bit.

"Yuffie! Don't you dare go back to sleep. Get up!" I heard Aeris demand.

I didn't care, Yuffie want sleep. I'm waaaaaay to tired right now. Hmm, that reminds me. Why was I so tired these days anyway? I'm never this sleepy, maybe I'm sick? No, that's impossible. I don't get sick. Cause I'm Yuffie, and Yuffie doesn't get sick. I've probably gotten lazy or something like that.

"Yuffie, I said up!" It was scary how much she could sound like a pissed off mother.

Of course, I didn't answer her. I bet Zack only left her here to bug the hell out of me. It was truly unfair to me, I haven't done anything wrong to him at all. I could honestly say I hadn't pull one prank since my Avalanche days. I just didn't have the heart to do it anymore. I didn't have the heart to do anything anymore. Why couldn't I just crawl up in a alleyway and die?

"Yuffie? Are you okay?" Aeris suddenly seem worried.

The sadness must have showed on my face, dangit.

"No." I replied, telling her the truth, of course, she would know if I lied.

"Yuffie, you're just a little down right now. You'll pick yourself up soon-"

Suddenly, I felt a hidden anger burst out of my every pore. I jumped out of the bed and smacked her right across her face. Everyone gasped, I didn't care. I was so sick of her 'It's all right' speeches. So sick and tired of them, my stomach couldn't take it down anymore. Aeris's hand went up to her face, a look of disbelieving was also on her face. This all happen so fast I hardly had time to breath before I started yelling at her.

"No, no I won't! So, stop telling me I will!" I shouted.

"Yuffie your wron-"

"Stop it Aeris! Stop acting like this." I push my way to the door, almost knocking down a very startled Shelke.

As I pulled open the door, I heard her follow me into the hallway. Everyone else was behind her; can't they find something better to do? I quickly walked down the stairs scowling. Finally, I got to the living room. My room was to crowed for Miss. The worlds a happy place, right? I could feel her glare as I stopped and turned to face her.

"Acting like what?" she growled at me.

My blood boiled, thank Leviathan the sun was out. Or I would have torn her apart. She talked to me like I was a little kid that misbehaved and it drove me absolutely crazy.

"Acting like- like- like we are humans!" I screamed tossing my hands in the air like a madwomen.

"We can be-"

"I told you to stop! Enough is enough!" I said trying to calm down a little.

She just stood there, not saying anything. As if _I _hurt her feelings and not the other way around.

"I just was trying to help you." I could see the tears waiting to fall from her luminous green eyes.

The atmosphere changed, I was quiet for a moment. I didn't really know what to tell her. Taking in a deep breath, I calmed myself. Not wanting to see her tears I gazed at the shiny floor.

"I never asked for that." I whispered.

"I know you didn't. I don't know what came over me to make it my job to make you smile, it just happened." Aeris sighed.

"I couldn't smile, I'm sorry, but I couldn't." I shifted my gaze back to her, seeing her wiping her eyes with her palms.

"I knew that, but that only made me try harder. Everyone warned me that you would soon snap. But I didn't listen to them. Yuffie, I'm the one that should be saying sorry, not you. I over did it, didn't I?"

I watched her not knowing if this was just a one day type thing. Was she really telling me she would back off? But maybe tomorrow she would start it all over again. She was, after all, a great actor. To bad I trusted her, I trusted that she would stop lying to me.

"Yeah, you did. But I forgive you anyway. Sorry for hitting you, you just broke a nerve that time I guess." her face bighted up at my forgiveness.

And how could I had not forgive her? She helped me so much. No matter how many times I pushed away from her help she never stopped giving it. The only problem was that she was trying to fix something that couldn't be fixed; my self conscious. I hated the way I had to live this so called existences. She could ever change that. I don't think anyone really could.

I started to get annoyed as no one spoke, the silence seemed never ending. It just dragged on and on...**.**

"Do you still not want to answer questions?" Aeris finally asked.

I glanced up at her, seeing a small hope in her face.

With a sighing I asked her, "Do still you want to?"

Obviously, she understood my agreement to play along with her little question game. She gave me a quick hug and began to seat everyone in the room. She placed me next to her and everyone else opposite of us. Like we were about to go to war with them or something.

And so it began.

"Okay, here are the rules; If at anytime in the game you start to feel dizzy, leave quickly. We may not be able to answer all questions, so bare with us. One question at a time, please. Don't judge us by our answers, that would be cruel and unnecessary. And last but not least, the game ends went the sun begins to set. Everyone understand?" she ranted.

There was a small mutters of "sure"'s and "yeah"'s. Even though they agreed, I still saw the confusion on most of there faces. Shocked much? Nope.

So, who is gonna be first?

"Great! Now, who wants to go first?" I smiled as Aeris spoke, she seemed very excited.

"Me!" Tifa also seem exited, but in a completely different way.

"Alright, go ahead!" Aeris you're wwwaaaaaayy to excited.

"Where has been Yuffie for all these years?"

The smile on Aeris face vanished. I bit my bottom lip, trying to read her blank face.

Really Aeris. What did you think they would ask? Happy questions? Well, questions of the past are never happy. Never.

"_You won't ask any questions and either will I."_

"She was with me." Aeris answered coldly.

I had shivered at the coldness in her voice. But I wasn't the only one. Tifa had moved back into her chair a little, her face stained with a small shock.

Aeris didn't seem to care, or maybe she hadn't realized. But I doubt that.

"_Time changes people. Time changed me."_

Meet the new Aeris Avalanche: Watch out, she bites.

If only this was I playing matter; maybe I would have laughed. Maybe during another life, the life I use to live.

"What were you doing to her?" Vince is unaffected by her stare, why am I not surprised?

"_I can't see! It hurts, stop! What's happening to me?"_

"I didn't do anything to her." Aeris crossed her arms as she spoke.

The truth was the truth. And she wasn't lying to them. She never had caused me any pain. But she did have many ways to annoy me. To many ways if you ask me.

"_It's time to wake up from the happy dreams. Remember to beware of the darkness."_

"Why didn't she die yesterday?" Cloud, you really don't want to know that answer.

"_Death. Is it as painful as this?"_

"She's immortal." I waited for the shock.

"_Why can't I die? What wrong with me?"_

I wasn't disappointed, they all had dumbfounded look on their faces. Cloud's mouth hung wide open. Vincent and Red had handled their surprise a little better that the others. Then again I could never really tell what Red was thinking.

Aeris _apparently _wasn't going to let Zack explain things. She was ready to go. To bad I wasn't.

"_Be ready for the worst. Always."_

"What happened?" Barret asked, his face turning red in fury.

"Why do you care? She's alive isn't she?" Aeris seem to get more ticked by the minute, her game wasn't going as planed. Not at all as planed.

"_Soon you will wish for death. It would be a gift to die." _

Vincent got up from his chair, I blinked in confusion. He grab Aeris's arm pulling her up harshly. She gave him a bored look, unaffected.

"_Anger doesn't solve things."_

"What. Did. You. Do. To. Her." he growled.

Why did he even care? What was he trying to prove by doing this? What were they all trying to prove?

"_Watch out for what you want. It's never what it seems."_

"I didn't do anything. You all did it." Aeris replied.

No...she promised she wouldn't tell them that. What is she doing? Trying to rip me apart more? Again? Hadn't Zack done enough?

"_Don't hold grudges. They will only hurt you in the end."_

Suddenly, Vincent let go of her. He took a step back, his face unreadable. Everyone else looked the same. Too much of a surprise to show on there faces. No, I think it was the unwanted words hitting them all at once. No warning. No sign.

"_Let it sink in, sweetheart."_

"W-what?" Tifa stuttered.

"_I don't understand. Make me understand...__**.**__Help me." _

"Y-o-u-r f-a-u-l-t. What about that is so hard to understand?" Jeez, you didn't have to spell it out for them. They heard you they first freaking time.

"_Time has also made me heartless." _

"How is it our fault?" Cloud asked sounding pissed.

"I'm not allowed to say." the answer was so simple, yet, it said so much. To much if you ask me.

"_The Oath is my cage." _

"Y-Yuffie? Can you tell us?" Tifa asked me.

It was a simple question, of course, but with no simple answer. Figures.

"_I'm trapped. We're trapped."_

"I'm trapped. We're trapped." I whispered hugging myself. I hadn't said those word in awhile. To say them again made me feel so helpless. Alone, again...

"_Am I alone now? Well I always be this way?" _

"Yuffie..." Aeris sat back down next to me.

"_I won't let you go. They won't hurt you."_

"Don't cry Yuffie. They aren't worth it." she said hugging me, which was kinda weird because a was hugging myself.

"_They mean everything to me. You don't know them, you can't..."_

I didn't know I was crying. But before I could even taken in what she was telling me, Vincent grabbed me out of her arms. He pulled me to the chair he _was_ sitting in before he got up. Putting me into his lap, he held me to him with one arm. I looked up but couldn't see because my eyes were fogged from tears. I couldn't believe it Vincent was trying to make me feel better. He was helping me. He was _holding_ me.

I couldn't believe this. I wouldn't let myself believe this...**.**

"_They don't care about you, Yuffie. Especially, Valentine."_

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Aeris snapped.

Good question. What is he doing?

"_Broken trust, is worse than a broken heart."_

"I'm taking her away from you. You can't hurt her with us here." Vincent sounded colder than Aeris if that was even possible.

Vincent didn't understand, of course, she could hurt me here. With or without them. Anyone could hurt me at anytime. All it took was a few words...And you just said them Vince.

"_Show me family, show me hope. Don't show me pain."_

"Me? Hurting her? I would never and has never hurt Yuffie the way you all have. Never." she told them.

"What did we ever do to her?" Cid screamed at her in anger.

"_Their voices hurt me... Their voices are always in my head."_

"Everything,"

Yet, nothing at all. Everything they did only ended up second worse.

"_We haven't lost everything. Not yet...we still have something to hold on to."_

Everyone but Vincent and Shelke started to yell at Aeris-their loud voices echoing in my ears, their cruel words.

Unnecessary. Wrong. Heartless. Unwanted. Against the game rules.

She didn't seem to care though. She never took her eyes off me. I looked back at her, my eyes dropping rain like tears. It's just a never ending hell this world puts us through. She did nothing to deserve this. Nobody deserved being judged wrong.

"_What did I do to end up this way?"_

She smiled at me sadly and turned to leave. While she was walked away, I felt the need to scream after her. She thought I wanted to be here more than I wanted to be with the others. She thought I forgot about my family.

She thought _wrong_.

"_All we have is each other. Don't leave me, Yuffie." _

"All we have is each other. Don't leave me, Aeris." I said, hoping she would stop.

Please, let her stay. Don't let her be like me, don't let her leave.

"_I'm not going to give up on finding a way to happiness. So you don't either, kay?"_

Avalanche's shouts stopped at the sound of my voice. Complete silence. Aeris paused for a moment and then turned around. Her smile grew, but it was no longer sad. I pushed my way out of Vincent arms, he let be go. I doubt I could have left if he hadn't let me. But I didn't think to much about that as I ran to her. I stop at her side, smiling ever so slightly at her.

"_Don't act like someone else. I mean after all you're still Yuffie."_

"It's not any of your faults," I said facing the people who stood up from their seat's.

"_My mistake; never yours."_

"It was mine." my eyes were gazing at the floor again.

What wasn't my fault? What had I ever done right? Just let me find one thing I did right...

"_No chose, no freedom. No anything."_

No one said anything after that. The silence didn't bother me this time. It was welcoming. It was sad. It was perfect.

To bad, good things never last long.

"Um, Yuffie? We need to go. You know to get something." Aeris pointed her head to the door.

It took a moment of thinking, but I understood what she was trying to point out to me.

She was _thirsty_.

"_Go out and get something to drink, kid."_

"Oh! I forgot all about that." I said smacking my forehead.

"Yuffie! That's how mistakes happen!" Aeris scolded me.

Actually, this wasn't new news to me. I knew this, yet, I forgot. Again. Lifting my hand from my head, I shrugged with my arms in the air. I tried to look somewhat apologetic, I truly was sorry after all.

"_Why is it so hard for you to do simple things?"_

"I know. It's unacceptable and won't happen again." it most likely would though..._. _Just how many times have I made the same mistake over and over again? I was a danger to the world around me. Without even knowing it for the longest time.

"_You could hurt people, Yuffie." _

"Well, alright. But we are going n-how long has it been?" I watch as she turned to open the door.

"Few months...?" Aeris snapped her head back in my direction, her hand still on the door knob.

"What?" a low hiss escaped her lips.

"I-I...forgot?"

"_Remember to remember-You'll live longer that way."_

"You forgot? For that long? Wait still Zack hears-No don't tell him. He would go up the wall if he found out..." she suddenly turned her head back to the door and pulled it open.

I bit my bottom lip, should I say goodbye to them? Would they care either way?

"_Watch out, the world is a cold place. It has no feelings. No heart..."_

"Were the heck do you think you're going!" Barret yelled, answering my question.

They_ would_ care. I would never catch a break, would I?

"_If you ever face a problem, run. The people that stay to face it are idiots." _

"Um, Outside?" Gawd, I'm so pathetic.

Aeris closed the door and moved back next to me. I sighed, this meant I needed back up to get out of this. Oh, joy.

"_Lies hurt less than the truth."_

"No you aren't." Cid seemed sure of this. Aeris on the other hand...

"Yes we are." she stated clearly.

If anyone had a life that sucked more than mine right now, I'm sure they were thinking about jumping off a cliff right now or jumping off of it.

"So, you can take her off for another six years? I don't think so." Need to drop it Cid. Like now would be a good time to let it go. No, now would be a great time. Before she kills you, and rips you into a million pieces _after_ she kills you.

"_Is that really necessary? I mean I think his as good as dead." _

"We have to leave, we need something." I told them quietly.

"What do you need?" I could see Aeris's mind about to blow, please, don't let her say anything stupid. I tried to lie but she beat me to it.

"Blood! We need blood, you happy now!" she yelled, waving her arms around like a crazy person. I swear this idiot has anger issues. I mean why in the world would she tell them damn truth? Out of her right mind, that's what she is!

"Idiot!" I screamed slapping the back off her head.

"_You only have one secret, don't blow it."_

"Yuffie, please, don't hit her."

We both had jumped. Oh my Gawd! Who the hell goes behind people's ears and speaks like that? I swear, people love to freak the hell out of me.

At the same time we turned to see who it was. I was going to kick-

"Zack?" we shouted in union. What the hell was going on? I thought Hojo was in a mad mood. Why is he here? Doesn't Hojo need him or something?

"_Never leave someone who needs you behind." _

Giving both of us a smirk he replied, "Yes, ladies?"

"What in the world are you doing here?" asked Aeris and me asked at the same time, both of us crossing our arms in annoyance.

"Well, hello to you too." he said still smirking.

"That's not an answer!" we both yelled again.

I looked over at Aeris, seeing that she was looking at me also.

"Did we just-" there was a small smile on her face.

"We did!" I told her.

Glancing at one another, we began to giggle like little girls. Zack chuckled at the sound.

"_Family? Is that what we are?"_

"That's freaking it! What the hell is going on here? If I don't get some answers now-"

I watched in pure horror as Zack's face went from happiness to his weird battle mood face. I finally gasped. No...they can't be-

"All of us have to get out of here. Now." Zack stared at everyone in the room for a quick moment.

"What?" Marlene demanded.

"No time for explanations, everyone needs to get on the airship now." Zack grabbed Aeris pulling her to the door. "Yuffie, we have less than ten minutes." He leaded Aeris out of the living room, they were going to go outside.

He wanted _me_ to get everyone else out.

"_Hurry! No time to waste, get to the safe zone."_

"W-we gotta go." I stuttered panicking and pointing to the door.

No, no, no! I will_ not _panic.

No, no, no, no, no, no, nope. No panicking, no spazing, no freaking out, none of that! Stay calm and be ready. Calm, ready, calm, ready, ready, calm, ready, calm, calm.

Why. Are. They. Not. _Moving_? This no time to stare like a pack of idiots! Time to move!

"Come on! You're wasting time, time that we don't have!" I shouted grabbing Tifa and Marlene trying to push them out the door. But it wasn't working as planned. Not even a little bit. Marlene's and Tifa's feet must be planted into the floor.

"What the hell is wrong with you people, do you _want_ to die?" Damnit Yuffie, STAY CALM! Stupid body, listen to me for one god forsaken time!

"_Panicking; the rush is amazingly terrifying."_

"Where are we going to go? What happening that would-" Cloud didn't let Tifa finish.

"Let's go." he said walking out the door as if there was no care in the world. To him there probably wasn't. He didn't know that getting eaten alive would hurt. A lot of hurt-ness.

Well anyway-YES! GO CLOUD! That's the idea, go out the door! I had to stop myself from jumping into the air when everyone else followed him.

When we finally all got outside, the sun was very close to setting. I saw the airship waiting for us, it was hard to miss actually. It wasn't as huge as Cid's, so it could fit in the street. Well, barley fit it the street….

"Wait Denzel! His coming home tomorrow!" Marlene panicked.

"I took care of it." Zack informed her kindly.

She glanced at Tifa as Zack got the group inside the airship. We went inside the small room that was located in the middle of the ship. It was mostly empty, only a few comfy chairs on the sides of the walls. The room itself was a rectangle, blue metal walls. It had always gave me a weird feeling, as if the walls were about to close in on me.

Zack broke the very uncomfortable silence; "Well, I would hang on if I were you. Yuffie try not to get sick, please."

"Sure, sure." I grinned at him.

"_Old habits die hard, very hard."_

We all got in our seats and the ship took off into the sky. It was fast, I shut my mouth just in case I got airsick. I just can't ever get over it. It was so annoying, I hated it.

"Wait, who's flying this thing?" asked Barret.

Oh, this is good. I nodded mentally in approval. Let's all be nice and talk to each other like friends. That way no one starts a fight while I die in this here chair. Closing my eyes, I exhaled loudly.

"It flies itself." Aeris answered Barret.

"Yuffie?" Zack asked.

I opened my eyes, glancing up to see his and Aeris's worried faces.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little airsick." I said waving it off as nothing.

"Of course you are." he smiled.

I smiled back before I closed my eyes again. It helped to think I was somewhere else. In another world of some kind. Somewhere on the ground at least…

"Zack later me and Yuffie need-"

"I know." he said to Aeris

Pshht. The man know everything. I would have rolled my eyes if they weren't already shut.

"Where are we going?" Cloud asked suddenly, I could hear the anger behind his voice.

"_Their gonna be mega pissed if they ever find out about us."_

"To a hidden area. Sorry, can't tell you." Zack didn't seem sorry at all. I knew he would take the secret to his grave if he had to.

"Why not, do you no longer trust me?"

This is not the nice conversion I wanted- No I needed. I sighed again.

"Yuffie?" this time it was Aeris.

"Their pissing me off." I didn't need to open my eyes to tell that she was smiling.

"We just want answers! Is that so wrong?" Tifa seemed on the verge of tears, again.

"We already tried that." Aeris hissed.

"You did?" Zack asked curiously.

"Yes, we did." I answered him.

"I see. It didn't go very well, did it?" he chuckled emotionlessly.

"No, it didn't. Blame Aeris."

"Figures."

I opened my eyes to see him looking over at Aeris. Smiling to myself, she was going to get hell for it at home. Then she would blame it on me, which would cause me to blame her again. It would go on for a few more hours like that. And before Zack would snap Hojo would talk to us and get the truth out, Zack would then sigh…. And life would go on.

It's been that way for six years, but I could tell things were about to change. Maybe I didn't like this change. Maybe that's why I was felt as if I was about to go over an edge and about to fall any minute. But what if I was already falling? What if I was already done for?

"_What's your one wish?"_

"I want to know something before we land. Because if we land I have a feeling no one is going to get their questions answered." Vincent spoke calmly.

"What would at be, Vincent?" Zack was just as calm.

"What has become of Yuffie. I want the truth." I shot Zack a panicked look.

"The truth?" to bad he wasn't looking at me.

"Yes."

A small smile was playing on Zack's lips. He was going to tell them. My eyes widened, I thought I was in the clear to soon.

"_It would break your heart? Right?"_

I could almost hear the words about to come out of his mouth. It was a terrifying moment of my sad sorry life story.

"She's a vampire."

Cloud gawked at me. Cid didn't believe it. Red gazed at Zack in horror (I think). Barret cursed loudly. Marlene and Shelke gasped. Vincent did nothing but stare. And Tifa, well, Tifa fainted.

"_Worse day of my damn life." _

* * *

Yays, I'm done! (Does happy dance) Hehe, the plot has started. (laughs evilly and starts coughing because of it) So's, What do you think? Was it horrible? I bet it was, oh well. Anyway, their was something that crossed my mind while writing this. Some people absolutely hate it when in a Final Fantasy fanfiction you call Aerith Aeris. I know that in Kingdom Hearts she is called Aeris and that in Final Fantasy she is called Aerith. I mean hey I played both games, so I would know right? Personally, I like Aeris better but I know it _really _bugs some people. So tell me which one you like better and I'll change it. Kays?

**Question: So, which do you like? Aeris or Aerith? Should I change it or not?**

It's all up to you! By the way, school starts in two more days so it could be a few weeks before I can update again. But who knows maybe I'll have one of those write all day days? (shrugs) Well, it's like 2:50 so I'm going to bed. Nite!

Till next time,  
Nami


	7. My Fault

Oh. My. Gawd! Am I updating? Yes I am, sorry for taking so long. Again. Guess what? This chapter has Yuffie and Vincent together!=] But it's confusing and short. Oh well, you can't have everything you want. It's kind of like winter. I love winter but it comes with snow, which I hate. =/

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII. Sad isn't it?

* * *

My Fault 

You know that feeling you get when miss a step on the stairs? You think your about to fall and the world seems to fade from thought. All you can think about is the fact that your falling and your mind seems to scream "Danger!". It's just you and the stairs, nothing else matters at this point. But then just when you think your going to hit the ground and die you feel the floor under your feet and you know your safe.

Well, right now I was in the process of falling and I wanted to touch the ground so bad that it was driving me insane. I wanted to know I was safe. I wanted to know I wasn't falling anymore.

"Yuffie." At the sound of my name I turned around, then cursed myself for doing so when I saw Vincent behind me.

"_Go away_." I said these word around a million times since Zack blew our secret a good ten hours ago. That jerk face.

Geez, I still can't believe that Tifa fainted. I wanted to kill Zack for that, I know he didn't think she'd faint and all, but still. I'm sure the stress that women puts herself through daily didn't help the fact much either, now that I think about it maybe it just was an over stress thing.

But worse than Tifa fainting was the looks that the rest of the group was giving me. It was like I was nothing but some freak to stare at. Gawd, it _hurt_ so bad. I just wanted to die on the spot.

So, guess what I did? I ran for it. Yup, I'm the biggest coward ever. No reason to lie about it or anything.

"No, you need to eat." You see this? This is a way to get me out of my room. But I'm not going to fall for it. I don't want to leave my room. It has this wonderful bed that I can cry on. Which in fact I was doing until Vincent came in. I swear I don't know why everyone thinks I'm going to leave my room. Cause I'm not going anywhere, nope, I'm staying right here.

"No I don't. Aeris was kind enough to send up some blood for me. I know I'm such a freak." My smile was sickly sweet as I said the last part. Why? Cause I know how to play my part. And I do a hell of a good job of it too.

"Yuffie, just how many people came up here to get you out?" Vincent asked me unaffected.

I glared at him, but answered anyway. "First person to try to talk me into leaving was Cid, then Barret, after him was Aeris, Cloud, Zack, Red, Tifa, Marlene, hell even Shelke tried. But guess what? No luck, I'm _not_ going anywhere."

"What are you getting out of this?" He sounded annoyed but I didn't really care. His question doesn't have to do with anything anyway.

"Vincent, you don't have to get anything out of something. Sometimes, it just makes you feel better." I frowned at him.

"Are you trying to tell me you gain happiness by crying on a pillow?" He asked rising one of his perfect eyebrows.

Wonderful, question my sanity while you try to make a vampire feel wanted. Lovely.

"Do you have a problem with my pillow?" I asked rudely, feeling bad for my pillow, it was covered in blood.

"No, I have a problem with you crying." Maybe if he sounded a little sympathetic I would have believed him. Maybe.

"Go away, Vincent." I snapped.

"No, Yuffie." He was so calm that it got on my last nerve.

"Look, I'm not going anywhere. Your wasting your time and your life trying to get me out of here. And if you think I'm lying go ask Aeris about that one time I locked myself in my room for six weeks."

Insert a very, very long silence here. You would think he would leave, but no, he just stands there and stares at me. This is great!

"So your not leaving?" He finally asked me.

I should throw him a party for understanding that. Yay, Vincent! You get it! I'm soooooooooooooo proud of you!

"Yes, I'm not leaving." I confirmed, trying not to laugh at mini party going on in my head.

"Then you leave me no choice." He said, shutting the door behind him. I watch speechless as he turned back around and layed down on _my_ bed.

"W-What the hell do you think your doing?" I shirked when my voice came back to me.

"I promised Tifa I would get you out of this room, and that is exactly what I plan to do." I stared at him like he was crazy. Which wasn't really out of the question at this point.

This couldn't be Vincent. Vincent would never ever lay in a bed with anyone, unless he had to. But more importantly, what does laying on my bed have to do with making me leave? If he moves one inch closer I'm gonna kill him.

"Vincent Valentine, if you think your going to make me leave my room by threading to rape me, I swear to Gawd I will crave you out like a pumpkin on Halloween." I said pissed beyond belief.

And you know what he did? He laughed, like the ass he was.

"This is not funny! It-It was never funny…" The laughter stopped intently when he saw the look on my face. I just had to cry didn't I? What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I just stop crying nowadays?

Geez, I'm so _weak_.

"Yuffie…" Vincent whispered like he was in pain or something.

My mind completely clouded when he whispered my name though. I had totally forgotten the affect this guy had on me. I forgot all about the nights I spent crying because of him. I forgot about the way I loved and hated him. I forgot about everything he was to me. I even forgot about everything he ever said to me, all the words I use to hold so dearly because _he_ said them to _me_. I forgot about all those things until this moment. It all came back so fast that I felt dizzy just thinking about it all.

"G-Go away." The words sounded far away and I knew he wasn't going to leave. But it's not like I wanted him to leave anymore.

He didn't say anything to me, he just pulled him into his arms and let me cry on his shirt. I was killing his shirt with my blood-tears but he didn't seem to care. It felt like I was letting six years of misery all out in this one moment. I never thought I would ever get to see Vincent again, let alone cry all over him. My life really was a sad joke.

Vincent didn't say anything as I continued to cry, which I welcomed. I was glad he wasn't rubbing my weakness in my face.

"I blamed myself." He told me. I knew what he was talking about right away and I tried to stopping crying to listen or saying something back to him.

I wasn't doing such a great job of it.

"I-It wasn't y-your fault, V-Vince." I sobbed.

"The hell it wasn't." His sudden anger took me by surprise, stopping my tears immediately.

"You didn't know." I said while pushing myself off his chest, to sit down next to him.

"I should have never told you to go alone." He sat up with me. I could tell my words had no affect on him whatsoever. He really thought it was his fault.

I saw him stare at the blood running down my face. He probably thought it freaky or something. I wiped my wet face with my hands, knowing that I had just made it worse. All did was smear the blood on my face.

"I was the one that went, not you." I tried reasoning with him, but he wasn't going down without a fight.

My words it a mark, I could see that much from his eyes.

"I should have known better, Yuffie!" His yell rang in my ears, and I finally understood. This is why I had to come back.

Vincent blamed himself. And I bet he wasn't the only one.

Somehow, I knew he did before he even told me. Goodbye wasn't what I really wanted. I wanted them to understand. Understand that this wasn't their fault. I didn't run away. I didn't just leave because of something they did. I was forced away. I had no choose and it wasn't their fault.

"No,_ I _should have know better. I was the one that got caught."

"We could have saved you if I didn't think you just ran off afterwards. We could-"

"Yeah, you 'could have' doesn't mean you would have. And I always ran off with out tell anyone."

"That doesn't mean anything Yuffie. I 'could have' was more than enough."

"Vince! It's my fault for being so childish, other wise you wouldn't have thought I ran off! It was a mission, only I would have left on a mission!"

"I don't think-"

"STOP! I've had enough of this! It's. My. _Fault_." I yelled grabbing his shoulders and shaking him a little.

"No." He pull my hands off of him, glaring at me.

"Fine than! I forgive you for whatever you think made it your fault!"

"What I did was unforgivable."

"Doesn't mater, I still forgive you!"

When he didn't respond, I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I'm starting to think Aeris was right about me taking yoga. I did need to learn how to calm myself down. It would help me a lot. A lot, a lot now that I think about it…

"Why?" Vincent sounded like he was thinking out loud.

I answered anyway, "Because you need to stop blaming yourself for everything in the world."

"I do not blame myself for everything." He sounded so childish I thought I was going to laugh.

"Yes you do, and I think it's a dreadful habit." I smirked at him.

"Think what you will." I think he gave up fighting with me. It really was getting us nowhere.

Vincent seemed lost in his own little thought world. I turned my gaze from him to my lap.

Then I realized something…

_I wasn't falling anymore._

_**Vincent **_**caught me**.

My mind raced, this was not suppose to be happening. I was not here to fall back in love with my old crush. That was not suppose to happen. I did not sign up for this. I did not, not, not, not, not want this to happen! This was not suppose to happen!

"Yuffie, there is something I need to tell you now that you're here." Vincent said, placing his finger under my chin to make me lookup at him. I wanted to run away right when he touched me, but I didn't have a clue what he wanted to tell me. I was to curious to leave. Maybe it was something about me being a vampire? Oh, please make it be something about me being a vampire!

Vampire. I hated that word soooooooo much. It was to overly used back at home. I didn't even really call myself that. Demon was better in my book, vampire was just to specific. If I called myself that it would be like saying I knew everything about myself. Which I don't.

"Sure, Vince, spit it out." I was lucky that I didn't stutter, the my words barley came out of my mouth.

"I lov-"

"HEY! WE'RE HOME!"

* * *

I don't really like how this turned out but there's not much I can do about it. Next chapter_ should_ be out next week or at the end of this week I think… Yup, so that's it! I'm going to go play Life now, at like 1:15am. I swear that board game is highly addictive, watch out.

Happy holidays! =D

Till next time,  
Nami


	8. New Task

Okay, this may have taken forever, but here it is. You should know that the start of the chapter isn't in Yuffie's point of view, but the rest of it is. Well, that's all!

Disclaimer: Yeah, well funny thing is I don't own Final Fantasy. However, I do own all the people who aren't from Final Fantasy in the story.

* * *

New Task

"You're late Mr. Rou." The new secretary said disapprovingly as I walked into the lobby.

She glared rudely before she grabbed the phone to call me in. It didn't matter to me either way; the secretaries never last long here anyway. They all take it upon themselves to poke around in the boss's secrets. He doesn't handle it so well- that man is far from forgiving, and no one who knows better would dare cross him. People who have been here for awhile know that, and they always remember keep it in mind. The new ones unfortunately learn from their mistakes or the mistakes of others.

"Sir, Mr. Rou is here to see you." I chuckled when her voice turned sickingly sweet while speaking to the boss.

She made a point to ignore me, and I just had to laugh at the knowledge that she was mostly likely wasn't going to last a few more weeks here. Miss. Secretary had a horrid attitude, and the boss wouldn't be pleased when he found out. Speaking of which, I heard him muttering angrily on the other end of the line. He probably wasn't to please that something had gone wrong in the front lines this morning. It had to have ruined his day, and he was most likely was taking it out on everyone else. It didn't shock me that the front lines had messed up though; they're all a bunch of idiots with guns that they didn't know how to use properly.

"Of course, Sir, I'll let him know right away." She hung up the phone with that and turned her head to face me more clearly.

"Can I go in or what?" I smirked at her.

She huffed, "He said you can enter if you don't waste his time."

I walked away from her, and before I went down the small hall that leads to the boss's office I turned around to face her.

"You're the one wasting my time." I stated coldly.

With that said, I finished my short walk to the door of the office. I, of course, pushed it open without knocking. He wouldn't have picked up her call if he didn't want me here, that much I already knew.

"Sir?" I asked to make sure he had noticed that I had entered.

"Yes?" He didn't look away from his computer, I wasn't worth it.

"It came to my attention that something in the lines went wrong today. I'm here to see if you need my team to correct this mistake." I said immediately, not wanting to beat around the bush.

I was thrown off guard when he turned around to look me in the eye. I took a step back, this wasn't a good sign. He obviously wasn't in the best of moods, and I had a feeling that I was about to pay for it. I froze in place, making sure I didn't make any move that would upset him even more. The last thing I needed today was a trip to the emergency room, they ask way to many questions for their own good. Suddenly, his lips went up in a cocky smirk. Damn, he had noticed my discomfort. I quickly glanced at the desk to avoid his eyes, not looking back until I was sure I had calmed down enough to face him.

"Are you aware of the task?" He asked after he grew uninterested in me.

I knew he was aware of the fact that I knew nothing. This was a form of mockery I knew all too well, someone had paid a horrible price for this mistake today. I suddenly wasn't so sure I wanted my team to take this job. While I knew it wouldn't be difficult for us to complete, I didn't want to take on something that I would end up regretting afterward. I was beginning to think I was really going to regret this.

"No, Sir."

He pulled out a black folder from his desk and handed it to me carefully. I stared at it in my hands for a moment before looking up at him in confusion. Never, in all my time working for this man, has he given me a folder. A folder was for someone who didn't understand their task- for people who could not remember faces, names, dates, and other important information. That someone was most definitely not me. What on earth was going on here?

"What wrong? You seem lost."

"Nothing Sir, I'll get this done for you." I said confidently, ignoring my gut that was clearly telling me to place the folder on the desk and never ask about this task again.

"You better make sure to follow the rules in the folder. I don't care what you do as long as you do that." With that he turned back to his beloved computer.

I took this as my cue to leave, but before I could get to the door I heard him call out to me.

"Ian, be careful." I smiled hearing his tone soften.

"Of course, Uncle, I always am."

* * *

When Aeris's voice rang out of the speakers, I took a huge sigh of relief and quickly ran out of the room. That was way too close for my taste, one more second and Vincent would have definitely said something he would regret.

I heard him follow me off the ship, seeing that everyone else was obviously waiting for us by the old collapsing castle. The castle was just a cover though; no one had lived there for centuries. The fact that it was also falling apart helped make sure no one would ever dare enter it. The darkness of the night was another great factor in making sure of this. On the other hand, the land around the castle was completely out of place in this equation. It was painfully beautiful, the trees and wild flowers here were beyond perfect, absolutely breath taking as a matter of fact. The only thing that this place didn't have was animals. They never came around here, not even the tiniest of bugs dared to enter the castles grounds. Zack says it's because they know that there is danger here. They know that we live here, they know we're dangerous.

"How are you feeling?" Zack asked as Vincent and I made it over to them.

"Better. " I told him honestly.

Part of me wanted to rip him part for earlier and the other part wanted to get over it. So far both sides were winning equally.

"That's good. " Maybe, if he didn't look so guilty, I _would_ have really ripped him apart.

"So are we going in?" I asked, changing the subject.

"No, Yuffie, we just going to stand here." Aeris said sarcastically.

"Oh shut it." I told her as Zack pulled out the key to unlock the castle doors.

"Play nice." He said while he turning the key.

A loud click was heard and he pulled the key out of the door. He then grabbed onto the handle and pushed the door open. The entry was so dark you couldn't see where it ended, and sometimes I would swear the walls moved in this place. I knew that if I hadn't been through it a million times I would definitely have freaked out. Zack motioned us to come in with his hand, when we finally got into the hallway Zack closed the door behind us. Together we started walking into the castle; the darkness in this place was quite unnerving. But thankfully, we got to the elevator that was located at the end of the hallway. I made sure not to look or stand next to Vincent. I really didn't want to finish our previous conversation.

"Where does this lead to?" asked Cloud, mystified that something like this would be in a place this old.

"The part of the castle we live in is underground, this way we stay hidden. Not that it's really needed; we're in the middle of nowhere." Zack explained.

"This piece of land was forgotten centuries ago." Added Aeris, trying to help everyone else understand.

Cloud was the first to look inside the elevator. I'm guessing to check if it was safe before he stepped inside of it. Apparently, trust was something we needed to work on. He nodded his head to Tifa, signaling that he approved of the elevator, then stepped inside. Everyone then decided to follow him inside, not a huge surprise to me. I saw Aeris roll her eyes at Cloud and sent her a small smile. She, of course, smiled brightly back at me. I could help but begin to think that maybe today would end better than it started.

"Can this thing hold all of us?" Shelke asked me after the elevator doors closed behind us, her voice lowered so only I could hear.

"Of course it can." I whispered back.

I had a lot of faith in this elevator, it never failed us before. Why should it now? It's not like all of us are a million pounds anyway. Wait, is Shelke scared? I opened my mouth to ask her, but the elevator chose then to quickly shoot downward. I immediately shut my mouth. Jeez, I forgot how fast this thing was. I felt Shelke grab onto my arm, she really _was _scared. No one grabbed onto a person with motion sickness inside an elevator if they weren't scared out of their mind. It was a proven fact of life. The elevator suddenly stopped, causing me to fly backwards into Cid.

"Shit! What was that?" Cid asked holding me steady, I wasn't feeling to well after that.

"Open the door, Zack!" Aeris shouted after she took a quick glance in my direction. My face must have been green because he opened the door in less than a second. I flew out the door and puked my guts out into the small bin next to the elevator's right-hand side. Zack had put it there for me a while ago. It ended up being the joke of the year, and I can safely say that was a long year.

"Hey, take it easy there kid!" Zack shouted.

Wiping my mouth, I turned to face him as he came out of the godforsaken elevator. This was not going to help him get back on my good side.

"You just had to make the thing so freaking fast, didn't you?" I said pointing to the elevator in disgust.

"Yuffie, you know why it has to be fast." It's not like he was lying, it would take forever to get down here if it went the speed of most elevators. But really, would making it a little slower kill anyone?

"Whatever." I snapped, not wanting to talk about the stupid elevator anymore.

If it wasn't one thing it was always another in this stuipd world. Why can't everything just be easy? Why must everything be so damn hard? Why does it feel like no one is ever on my side? Why do I ask all these questions I know only upset me more? Why? Because I know that some messed up part of me enjoys being alone. That messed up part of me always makes me snap for the most weirdest reasons, and I can't do shit about it. I have to stand back and take it, because I have no idea how to fit myself. How to make myself let things go, even for a little while. I never can just take a break, because I like blocking everyone out. I like making sure that no one can ever get to close to me again. I like knowing that they can't hurt me, they can't tell me I'm a mess. I'll never let them get so close to realize I'm broken. And sure some of them have guessed at it, but they don't know it for sure. They can't even begin to fathom my messed up brain. Not even as they all stare at me now. They have no cule, and I'm going to make sure it stays that way. And all of this messed up mind rant was due to a elevator ride. Which proves my insainty even more than I would like to admit. They can't understand me, because I can't even understand myself.

"Come on everyone, Miss. Moody and I will show you around." Aeris said, pulling me out of my daze and forcefully along with her.

"Oh, just wonderful." I sighed.

This was clearly going to be a long day- I should have never expected anything less than that.

* * *

Okay, next chapter we'll meet everyone else who will be in the story. Well, most of them. So, it should be fun! Hopefully, it won't take as long as this one did.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Till next time,  
Nami


	9. Mouse Trap

Again a late update, I think I've mentally given up on trying updating quickly. Not much to say really. Today was weird for me. I woke up at six, something I never do unless I have school. It's kind of freaking me out. Plus, on top of this morning I'm still awake and it's like 3:40AM right now. No one is up yet, and I was just sitting in my bed in silence until I thought- "Hey, I could update!". I know I'm weird. Anyway enough about me. Onward to the story!

Disclaimer: As you all know, I most certainly do not own FFVII.

(By the way, I deleted the Author's Note Chapter and will soon be deleting the Sneak Peek Chapter. Sorry. I just feel like they don't flow with the story, and aren't needed. If I post anymore Author Note's they will also be deleted after the chapter that follows it. Just thought I should let you know. I'm going to shut up now- promise.)

* * *

Mouse Trap

I couldn't believe I was doing this. How in the world was this going to even work out? They're going to completely flip out and kill someone. And that's probably the understatement of the year. I have to say something before I let Zack and Miss. Tour Guide do this. I glance to Zack-at least he usually understood my logic. However, as if he sensed my upcoming words he turned to glare at me. I bit my lip to silence myself. Damn, we're doing this. I quickly looked to my left to see Cloud who was currently listening to Aeris explain that we're in the west hallways, and that we should be nearing the third kitchen soon. I let this information sink in, horror grasping at my insides. I knew someone would be there, someone was always in there. As if to confirm my nightmare I heard the slam of a refrigerator door coming from the end of the hallway. I sent a panicked look toward Zack, to which he completely ignored. Damn, this _was_ happening.

When we entered the kitchen time seemed to stop for a moment. The silence unnerved me, and I suddenly found myself wishing that Aeris would start speaking again. Then they saw him, it was obvious that they didn't understand. No one dared to move, no one dared to murmur a word as they stared into his face. There he was, with half of his sandwich in his mouth, eyes glistening with amusement. He slowly gulped the rest of the food in his mouth down before grinning up at Aeris. She smirked back at him; it was like they couldn't even feel the apprehension that was forming all around them. I sucked in a deep uneven breath- apparently at some point I had stopped breathing but I could figure out when. Finally, he spoke and I wish he hadn't.

"Yuffie, where is my smiling face?" I gasped in horror as I saw a blob of blond hair run at him.

"No!" The scream was out of my mouth before I knew it. Cloud stopped in mid attack to glace back at me, anger radiating off his face. For a moment I thought he was going to carry on without my approval but much to everyone's surprise he didn't. Yet, by the look on his face I could tell he hadn't ruled it out. Soon I realized he was waiting- waiting for me to give the okay. For me to tell him he could kill him- something that was most definitely not going to happen.

"Don't you dare touch him, Cloud." I said taking a step forward. I was ready to defend my family at all costs, even if it meant hurting my previous one. However, the only Avalanche member that seemed to be willing to talk or even move at the moment was Cloud. I guess this was just way too much to put people through for one week. I don't blame them; all of this is downright insanity.

"You should calm down and take a step back before attacking an ally." Zack seemed far to calm for my liking. I shuddered realizing that something was without a doubt up; something that they hadn't been telling me. Something that was important enough to be kept a secret from even me. This was all too risky, this was all so unlike him. He was planning something, and I'm starting to think that I had just fallen straight into his trap. I was a mouse that just had been tempted by the rarest of all cheese, to blind to recognize what was happening before it was too late.

"An ally?" barked Cloud. "This scum is the furthest thing from an ally."

"Ouch, vicious." Sephiroth seemed perfectly at ease as he calmly continued to eat his sandwich. He was completely mocking Cloud- the way he spoke, the way he lead up on the island, even the way he ate his sandwich. It was unfuckingbelievable. He had no sense of self preservation at all.

Cloud shook with anger; he looked just about ready to blow up or run away crying in frustration. Minutes flickered way- nothing happening. At last Vincent walked over to Cloud. Everyone's eyes were on them. Cloud's shoulders were shaking in his fury, his face twisted with hatred. I stared as Vincent placed a calm hand on Cloud's shaking shoulders. Cloud's piercing blue eyes snapped to Vincent's blood-red ones. Vincent gave him a quick nod, and surprisingly he seemed to compose himself. As Vincent let go of Cloud's shoulder he turned to face me. I flinched back, afraid of what he might say to me.

"Why don't you start explaining, Yuffie." he seemed so at ease, but I could tell he wasn't. His blood red eyes locked onto mine, and for the first time in my life I was truly scared of him. "Why the dead around here aren't dead at all."

"I-I don't k-know." I could hardly even speak, but even I could hear the lie in my words.

"Do not lie to me." he said slowly. The calm was gone, the bitterness quickly taking over.

"Yuffie." I turned around immediately to Zack, anything to look away from Vincent.

"I'm sorry." I was surprised; his eyes were so full sympathy. Why? But just as quickly as I thought the question I knew the answer. He was going break my oath. Therefore, I could tell them. I was the only one who wasn't bitter, the only who had forgiven, I was going to be the sacrifice.

"Please, Zack, I'm not ready." he shook his head no, the sympathy disappearing as quickly as it came. My insides felt as though they had been squeezed together, I started to panic. I snapped my head to look at Aeris, maybe she could make him see differently. Looking upon her I gasped, her eyes full of panic.

"It will be over soon. This will be all over soon." I knew this quote. It was from the song, the song they taught me, the song I sang at Tifa's.

"So I'm going to sacrifice myself unwillingly?" I asked bitterly.

No one answered me.

Aeris looked toward Zack, but he didn't even blink at her. She took in a deep breath; I wasn't the only one freaking out apparently. I barely notice as Loz, Kadaj, and Yazoo entered the kitchen. I understood this completely well. No one was after us as we left earlier today. Zack had this all perfectly planned and perfect executed. No way out. It was too late to change his mind on the matter.

The others seemed to notice the room's atmosphere change. Tifa moved forward to me but Cid pulled her back. Her eyes locked with mine, I quickly looked away. I had just dragged them into this war with no idea what I was doing. Who was going to protect them? I couldn't do it alone, and no one here would ever risk their lives to do it. Just what was going to happen to them?

"What the hell is going on?" Cid seemed to finally find his voice. He had managed to get Tifa behind him for a moment, but she was pushing his hands away.

"Stop it will you- I'll stay here let me go." she snapped at him. Cid let go as he stared down Zack for a response to his question.

"Yuffie is going to tell you everything you want to know." Zack never seem so uncaring before. His eyes met mine with such emptiness, but as much as it freaked me out I couldn't look away. I noticed I was crying silently, but I could fine the strength to stop. This was so unfair, how could they do this to them? Avalanche had no idea what was going on. They were just standing there too shocked, too confused, or too frightened to move.

"Go ahead; pour the salt into the open wound." I said trying to sound uncaring while failing miserably. Aeris was desperately trying to get Zack's attention at this point. He finally gave into her pulling on his sleeve. He turned his head toward her and she dropped her hand. They eyes locked for a mere moment. She shook her head slowly, and then without a word ran out of the kitchen.

Minutes tickled by after she left, the silence echoing the room.

"It will be painful, maybe we should wait until later." Zack looked toward the group of people watching us. He obviously didn't care either way; this was merely an option for me.

"No, I don't want to wait." I didn't want to be alone when he did this, I needed them here. I didn't realize I was walking backwards until I bumped into Vincent's chest. I could hardly care at the moment. I had never in my life been so afraid. I knew this was going to hurt both mentally and physically. I tried to move forward so I wouldn't be all over Vincent but I couldn't find the courage to move. Vincent couldn't have minded much because he suddenly turned me around to face him. He saw my fear- I could see it myself in his eyes. My hands started to shake uncontrollably and I wanted to say something to him. Tell him I was going to make sure it would all be okay. Tell him I wasn't as scared as I seemed. Tell him anything to make that look on his face go away.

"We don't need to know if it's going to harm her." Vincent said clearly, never looking away from me.

"It matters not. She will need to tell you anyway- besides the sooner the better." Sephiroth said. His voice, unlike Zack's, was full of emotion. He never felt the need to hide emotions nowadays; he was straight forward with everything he did.

"Let's get this over with, Zack. No point it waiting." Sephiroth didn't sound to please, but at the moment I couldn't care less. Though, I did want to thank him. At least now I wouldn't have to wait, because the more time that went by the more afraid I became.

"Very well." Zack then started whispering under his breath. I couldn't make out what he was saying but I could tell it wasn't a language I had heard before.

Suddenly I felt it, the coldness slowly crawling up my body. It felt like I had just been dumped into ice cold water without warning. I took a deep breath grabbing onto Vincent's shirt, knowing it was going to get worse. Vincent placed his hand over mine, his eyes full of confusion.

"What are you- " Barret's words were blocked out by my screech. The pain was so intense that I couldn't even stand up anymore. Before I fell to the floor Vincent used the hand that wasn't over mine to pull me to him. I let out another scream as I tighten my grip on his shirt, by body was shacking so violently that Vincent had to pull us to the ground and place me in his lap.

"Yuffie?" I wanted to tell him in would be okay but another sharp scream was my response. Vincent looked somewhat crazed as he snapped his head toward Cloud. "Stop him."

At Vincent's command Avalanche came to life. I watched in horror as Shelke and Cloud ran towards Zack who didn't even seem to notice the movement. Cid, Red, and Barret made their way to Sephiroth as he stood completely still in the same spot he had been in the whole time. Loz, Kadaj, and Yazoo moved to protect Zack just as Tifa moved to help Cloud and Shelke. Marlene blocked my view as she helped Vincent get me off his lap and onto the floor. The shaking was getting worse and they both were trying to get me to stay still as the pain just continued to make scream out.

Then it ended.

"It's done." Zack's words caused the room to still. The fighting stopped and my body fell limp against Marlene's and Vincent's arms. I couldn't move, and I felt like I would never speak again.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Zack didn't answer Cid this time.

"Yazoo and Loz will you please take Yuffie to Shalua. If they must her _friends _can follow you." Zack said before walking out of the room as if nothing just happened. He was probably going to find Aeris, or see if Reeve and Denzel were here yet.

"Shalua?" Shelke's whisper caused Yazoo and Loz to walk toward me. Vincent and Marlene made a move to stop them but Sephiroth walked in-between both of them and took control.

"If you want you may move her Valentine, just don't drop her." Sephiroth words were laced with amusement. It was painfully obvious that Vincent didn't find any of this funny. However, he lifted me off the floor bridal style and turned back toward Sephiroth.

"Lead the way." he said coldly as Sephiroth smirked and lead the way out of the kitchen.

When I rested my head on Vincent's shoulder all I could think about was falling into Zack's trap so stupidly. I just knew today was going to be a long day. I really wish I had been wrong, and for the first time in a while I wondered if Avalanche would survive this. I wondered if any of us would survive this.

* * *

Okay, I tried to make it seem like this was all slow motion for Yuffie. You know kind of like it was frozen, but I think I totally failed big time. Oh well, if anything maybe you guys will like it. Next chapter is called "Secrets Out", so you probably can tell what's going to happen there. ;) I promise this time I will let you know exactly what is going on with Yuffie. Be ready, because the reason I know the title is that I just wrote half of it now. I'm just way to sleepy to keep typing so I'm going to sleep- Nite!

Till next time,  
Nami


	10. Secrets Out

The next chapter as promised- but I would like to warn you all before you start reading. As most people have noticed my Vincent isn't your average Vincent. So I thought you all would maybe like a small little look inside his head. Therefore, the start of the chapter is in Vincent point of view. Vincent might come across like a jerk and I will tell you right now he is a jerk. But that's only because his confused and a tad bit bitter right now, he'll get better later. I'm ranting again, so I'm going to stop.

Disclaimer: I certainly don't own FFVII.

* * *

Secrets Out

None of this should be happening right now. I had half my mind telling me it wasn't happening. That this was all just one huge fucked up dream that was created to finally drive me insane. To top this damn nightmare off she was here. The one person that had been haunting my thoughts for the past six years is here. I want to kill her, after all of these years of searching for her- I want to kill her. She had no idea what she did to me, what she is still doing to me.

I caught myself looking down at her small form in my arms and then quickly looked back up before anyone noticed. The last thing I needed was for Tifa to give me another speech about declaring my nonexistent feelings. Yet, I've never seen Yuffie look so broken before. She was just limp in my arms, and if she wasn't breathing I would have been sure she was dead. It was unnerving seeing her this way, without a grin spreading her face. I despised it, all of it. However, most of all I hated the way her screaming was still ringing in my ears.

On no account have I've seen her look as scared and helpless as she had just a few minutes ago; and never in my lifetime had I felt the need to protect anyone the way I wanted to protect her at that moment. It's ironic and pathetic, seeing that I would love nothing more than to end her life.

It's not enough though, she has no clue about anything. She just doesn't understand. The way she looked at me, the panic and fear in her eyes. I would have done anything at that moment to have stopped all of her pain; anything to have just snapped the source of it into two. Yet, I couldn't leave her there screaming.

I had to protect her.

I didn't have it in me to leave her again. I couldn't let her be alone like that again. Just the thought of her screaming like that ever again... I can never let her feel anything close to that again. I will not sit back and allow these people to hurt her. I don't care what she is doing here with them- she can't ever feel that way again. She should be given a chance to explain before I let my judgment get the best of me anyway. Although, when we entered that kitchen and he was there I wondered. Hell, I'm still wondering what is going on here. She just went through all that pain and now she can tell us what the big damn secret is around here. These people should all be dead, so why are they here? Why is she with them?

"This is as far as you can go, Valentine." Sephiroth stopped at a metal door, his arms outwards as if he expected me to hand her over to him.

"I was under the impression that her 'friends could follow'." I didn't miss his smirk, and I most certainly didn't miss the desire to rip it off his face.

"You can follow all you want. However, you aren't allowed into this room. If it pleases you then you can wait for her here." I was just about to tell him what would really please me was ripping him into two pieces, when Aeris came bursting through the door in front of us.

"Yuffie!" Aeris's voice was filled with panic. "I swear I had no idea what he was doing. I would have-"

"Don't worry. I'm perfectly fine." Yuffie's voice was so weak that I my desire to kill the person responsible for this grew significantly. She was definitely not fine, not by any means.

"We have to take you to inside now. Shalua will make sure you'll be alright." Aeris looked close to tears at this point. Her eyes locked onto mine, and I know she notice the way my grip on Yuffie tightened. There was no way in hell I was about to hand her over.

"Vincent, please let us make her better." Aeris plead made me numb. It was their fault she was like this, their fault she was even here. What made her think I would willingly give her up to them without even knowing what they would be doing to her behind those doors? Yet, if they could help her…

"Maybe we should listen to them." Tifa whispered. I glanced back at her, noticing that her hands were moving nervously at her sides. She was scared, and I couldn't blame her. This was the most bizarre thing to happen to us in a while. None of us were prepared for this. We had no idea what we were even getting ourselves into right now, and I have a feeling that this isn't exactly what one would call a piece of cake.

"Why should we trust them?" Cloud's words had much more reasoning behind them than Tifa's. Why should we be trusting people that weren't even supposed to be alive? People that obviously didn't mind hurting one of their own to get what they wanted.

"It's okay, Vinnie." I glanced down at Yuffie. Her voice was still too soft for my liking. I was just about to tell her it was unquestionably not okay, that I wasn't going to allow this. But when a small smile reached her face I knew I wouldn't be able to refuse her. So I bitterly handed her over to Sephiroth.

She had to get better.

I was just about to warn Sephiroth when Cid beat me to it, "If you harm her in any way, shape, or form I will personally rip your head off."

"Don't worry, Old Man, she'll be perfectly fine." He was mocking Cid in a way I've only seen Yuffie do before, and I wasn't fond of it one bit. He was stepping on treacherous grounds and I would not hesitate to show him how dangerously close I was to slaughtering him.

Cid apparently didn't appreciate it either by the way his hands clenched in anger. "Listen you shit head, I'll-"

"Please no more fighting." Yuffie whispered, and before I could comprehend what was happening Sephiroth had taken her inside the metal doors and out of my sight. Loz and Yazoo followed Sephiroth into the room, but for some reason Aeris stayed behind.

"Don't worry; everything is going to be alright." Aeris seemed to be assuring herself as well as us. Her voice was hushed, and I found myself wondering again how she was even alive.

"What happens now?" Cloud asked. His gaze was fixed onto the doors in front of us and I wondered if he was thinking about the same thing I was. Just what was behind those doors that was so important?

"She heals up, and you get your rooms." she said clearly. "You'll have to share, though. We don't have enough rooms around Yuffie's room for each of you to get your own. I was told that I wouldn't be allowed to separate you for safety purposes. One of you can share with Yuffie too. There are five rooms so start thinking about roomies now. "

"Five? That's not so bad." Tifa was obviously trying to see the bright side of things.

"I'll take you there now. Yuffie won't be out for some time, it's pointless waiting here." Aeris walked us back to the kitchen, and while we went through it I couldn't help but glance back to the spot Yuffie was violently screaming minutes ago.

"Here we are," Aeris stopped and I took a moment to let the background sink in. The door in front of us was painted silver and the hallway here was much narrower than the ones we were previously passing to get here. "Yuffie's room is the one with the green door."

"There is only a silver door here." said Tifa looking around for another door.

"When you open it you'll see." Aeris explained, while giving Cloud some glass cards. "Everything in there is color coded."

"Um, okay?" Cloud said while glancing at cards.

"Anyway, I must be going- See ya soon." Aeris smiled sweetly before taking her leave.

Cloud went to open the door, and soon found it to be locked. He sighed and looked down at the five cards in his hands. Each card was a different color: green, silver, yellow, red, blue, and purple. They were transparent, and I had I feeling they were some sort of key. Cloud seemed to figure this out as well as he picked up the silver one and examined the door handle. It looked like a simple pull door handle and Cloud seemed to agree with me again.

"What the hell is this?" he asked while violently trying to pull the door open.

"Stop crazy- and give me that!" Tifa grabbed the card from Cloud and bent down to look at the handle more closely.

"This is ridiculous." I sighed, leaning against the wall.

"No one asked you, Vincent." Tifa said bitterly.

"Oh, wait!" Tifa took the card and pushed into the middle of the door handle. The card went through the handle and the door clicked open. Tifa pulled the handle and opened the door smirking as she did so.

"Women." Cid grunted as we all made our way through the door. Much to my surprise the room was a huge circle, and quite larger than the hallway led us to believe. In the center of the room, under an oversized carpet, there were a few sofas, a TV, and a coffee table. The rest of the floor was a white marble, and along the walls were dark wooden bookshelves that reached to the ceiling. In-between the bookshelves there were five doors: yellow, purple, blue, red and green. The handles were the same as the silver door we had just entered through.

"Dang." Marlene whispered while looking around.

"Miss. Yuffie didn't look like one who had such a love for books." Shelke commented.

"You can say that again." Barret whistled, while padding Shelke on back.

"So, who is rooming with whom? Nanaki asked.

"Cid and I can be roomies." Barret laughed, mocking the word at Aeris had previous used.

"Who the hell said that would be okay with me?" Cid smirked, as Cloud tossed them the red card.

"I call Shelke!" Marlene shouted, grabbing the purple card from Cloud.

"I can room with Reeve and Denzel when they get here." Nanaki offered.

"That's fine, I'll be rooming with Tifa." Cloud explained, as he gave Nanaki the blue card and handed Tifa the yellow one.

"So that leaves…"

"Yuffie and I." I finished, taking the green card from Cloud.

"Good luck with that Vince." Cid mocked.

"Hn."

* * *

"Yuffie, are you alright?" Shalua voice snapped me back to the world of the living.

"Yeah, I'm peachy." I replied, glaring at the silver door in front of me.

She frowned, "Well, Reeve and Denzel finally arrived here about an hour ago. However, they are all probably sleeping by now- it's quite late. You should get some sleep as well."

"Right, mother, I'll do that." I said sarcastically.

"Not funny." she smiled while handing me a pile of Key-Cards. "Here Zack changed all the locks a few days ago."

"Why?"

"Who knows? He just did."

"Of course."

Shalua turned to leave, "Bye Yuffie."

"Bye Mommy." I smirked, waving.

"Still not funny." I laughed watching her leave down the hallway. When she disappeared from my view, I turned back to the door in front of me. They were all in there, sleeping maybe, but all still in there. Okay, I could do this. I can be strong enough to do this. I mean what could go wrong, right? Totally not that big of a deal.

"Time to be a big girl, Yuffie." I whispered to myself while trying to find the silver Key-Card in the pile. After finding it, I opened the door. The room was dark, and no different from the way I left it. I heard the door behind me shut and lock itself once more.

"Hello?" I asked, walking round to find someone.

No one answered, they must have all been sleeping.

Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.

Pulling out the green Key-Card to my room, I opened my door, and walked up the few curving steps that lead to my bedroom and bathroom. When I got to the top of the stairs they turned right and left. The right side lead to my bathroom and the left to my bedroom. I turned left and followed the short hallway to my room. Everything seemed to be the same. The desk was still in the far left corner and my bed was still pushed into the other left corner. Nothing seemed to be different. So why in the world did I have this weird feeling? I ran over to my closet.

My heart sank.

The door was slightly pulled out.

Sliding it fully opened, I walked in. Looking down at the marble floor I realized that someone had been in here.

Inside my closet was a secret study, to get inside of it you had to move the last marble tile on the right. The tile would slip out and then the wall inside the closet would open to reveal the study. Shalua said that everyone was rooming with each other, this meant that my roommate had to have been the one who figured out how to open the study. After all, they had been in here long enough to have looked at just about everything.

Well, I guess there is only one way to find out.

I bent down and pulled out the tile, the wall opened, and I walked in.

It was dark as always. The room was a perfect square, the walls were one huge bookshelf, covered in my favorite books. There were two leather chairs in front of my big dark wooden desk, but that wasn't out of place either.

What was out of place was the man sitting behind my desk.

"Vincent?" I wondered.

"Yes, Yuffie?" Vincent's voice was distant. He didn't even flinch as I made my way to him. He didn't even look up from the papers he was reading to glance at me.

"Um, what are you doing?" Dang, that sounded even stupider out loud than it did in my head.

"What does it appear like I'm doing?" He completely just evaded my question.

"Why are you going through my stuff?" I asked while crossing my arms. I can play this game just as well as he can.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere else?" He had the nerve to sound annoyed as he asked me this.

"What are you talking about?" I snapped, "This is _my_ room!"

"Unfortunately, it has become my room as well." Vincent finally moved away from the desk and walked over to me.

He was to close for my liking.

Way too close.

I took a step back, "Why didn't Tifa or Shelke room with me?"

"Shelke is currently rooming with Marlene," Vincent explained while making his way back to the bedroom. I quickly followed him making sure to place the tile back into it's corner in order to shut the study. He made his way over to the bed and as I followed I realized that I only had one bed in this room unlike my other spare rooms. This could be a problem. "As for Tifa, I'm assuming Cloud didn't want anyone else rooming with his girlfriend."

"Did you just say girlfriend?" I laughed.

"Is there something wrong with saying that?" Vincent asked moving to sit on the bed. He leaned against the wall and pulled up his right leg placing his hand on top of it.

"I guess I just never imaged you saying something like that before." I climbed onto the bed and mimicked his position.

"Hn."

I knew I had to tell him what was going on sooner or later. I couldn't keep them all in the dark forever. As much as I wanted to, I could be that selfish. They had a right to know. Besides after all the pain I just went through it would be pointless if I waited any longer to fill them in. Maybe if I told Vincent he would do me a favor and tell everyone for me. That way I wouldn't have to worry about telling everyone else and answering everything twice.

"Vincent, I'm going to tell you everything. Can you promise me something first though?" I asked playing with the bottom of my shorts.

His head turned to meet my eyes instantly, "What do you need?"

I took in a huge breathe of air thinking about how to word it to him. My mind was racing faster than I ever remembered it doing. I was close now, all I had to do was tell him. It was simple and I didn't have to complicate it by thinking too hard.

"After I tell you could you let everyone else know? I'm not sure if I could face all of them and I don't want to repeat it over and over again." I looked down after speaking, watching my hands as they continued to play with the edge of my shorts.

Please say yes, please.

"If that is what you wish then I will do it." he sighed.

My eyes moved up to met his once more.

"Thank you." I whispered, shifting my gaze back to my shorts.

The silence was painfully intense.

"It happened six years ago." I told him, not moving to glance at him.

He waited for a moment before asking, "What happened six years ago Yuffie?"

"I died," I said bitterly. "It was on that last mission we went on. Do you remember the one I'm talking about?"

He didn't answer me.

I finally glance over at him to find that his body was as stiff as a rock. He was looking at me, his eyes frozen with shock.

"Vince, it really isn't that surprising." I returned my gaze back to my hands. "Honestly pull yourself together."

Silence again.

"There was a fire in one of the old apartment building in Midgar. We were sent to look for survivors after the fire was put out. The fire department couldn't get to the top floors because of damage the stairs took." Vincent explained.

He obviously didn't forget.

"Right." I confirmed." It happened after we decided to split up; I kept going down the hallways of the building trying to find someone. The fire from the previous night had really taken a toll on the floors. I should have been more careful. Even now I wish I could redo that moment."

"One of the doors to an apartment was left opened, and I thought I would go check there for someone." I closed my eyes and exhaled. "The next thing I knew I was falling. I'm not even sure how far down I went. When I finally hit the bottom I landed on my knees and my back hit something that was behind me- I'm not really sure what it was. At that point I knew I had broken both my knees, if the bones poking out of my flesh were any indication."

"Yuffie-"

"I'm not quite sure when I figured out I broke my back as well. Probably after I realized the water I was laying in was my blood." I felt completely numb remembering the feeling of my blood pooling around me.

"Yuffie stop-"

"You know what's funny? I didn't even realize I was dying. I never even screamed out, I just waited. Waited for someone to find me."

"Yuffie please-"

"No one came though, and I don't blame them. How could have anyone have known? So, in the end the only thing that came for me was death. And I was grateful because the pain stopped."

"Yuffie!" Vincent yelled at me and I snapped back to reality.

"Sorry I'm getting off topic, aren't I?" I tried to smile but it just turned into a lopsided grin.

When I looked back at Vincent his eyes were shut, his hands balled into fists.

"Vince?"

"Yes Yuffie?" his voice was distant, almost hallow.

"You okay?" I was worried, maybe I went into too much detail. I always get kind of detached when I talk about my death.

"Yes." Vincent's eyes opened to meet mine." However, there is no way I will be able to tell everyone the details of your death."

I frowned, "As long as you tell them I died it will be okay."

Way to freak him out, Yuffie.

"Very well."

"Anyway, after I died, I didn't go into the Lifestream."

"Why not?" he wondered as I turned back to look at my hands.

"I wasn't able to leave because I was someone that the Lifestream cared for." I sighed. "The Lifestream is alive, as you know, and it apparently has favorites. Anyone that had a significant part in the future of the planet was under this, well, let say category of people."

"So these people will never die?" Vincent asked trying to wrap his mind around the information I just gave him.

"No, it isn't that simple. There has to be someone that is still living that regrets their death. Someone who wishes with everything that they are that they could change what happened." I told him.

"Then the person that had died comes back. We don't know how it happens, it just does. The weird thing is that they all come back here, that's why the castle was built here. We're not really vampires though. Zack just made a joke about it one day and it kind of just stuck. You see, we need to drink the Lifestream in order to keep ourselves sane and not go wild. However, drinking the Lifestream as painful consequents."

"Your body just starts to shut down. You can't move or talk. You just sit there, barely living. There were a few of us that could drink it and be perfectly fine, but not enough to keep us from trying other methods. After a while we found out that blood could also keep us sane and moving. See, the Lifestream is the life of the planet and blood is the life of the creatures on the planet. At least that's why we think it works the same. It doesn't matter why it works anyway." I could feel my eyes start to water, I blinked away the unwanted tears. No point in worrying about the past now. I had to tell him what was going on in the present.

"Yuffie..." He couldn't finish his sentence.

I understood.

"I know, it's a lot to take in but I have more."

I quickly moved on top of him, placing my legs around both sides of his body. As I did this I grabbed onto his shoulders and pushed him hard into the wall. He looked down at me in surprise and I pushed him harder.

"What are you doing?" He grabbed my hand to push it off but I paid him no attention. Staring straight into his eyes I pushed him even harder.

"Listen!" Vincent stopped fighting me and let go of my hand.

"There are more of us than the ones that live in this castle. Around three years ago we created a law that forbid any drinking from the Lifestream. The ones that use to take from the Lifestream without any side-effects rebelled against us because of the law. They still take from the Lifestream today and most of them have been doing it more than ever before. Drinking more than is absolutely necessary, way more. It's driving them mad Vince." I was shaking, fear ripping throughout my body.

"Why does it matter if they drink from the Lifestream and go insane?" Leviathan, he just didn't understand.

"It makes them stronger because the Lifestream is much more powerful than blood could ever be." I explained, "Besides, they are going to do something. Something really horrible. We just know it. The power has driven them crazy."

Vincent just nodded in understanding and I knew he had to be tired. I lifted myself off of him and laid down into the bed. I grabbed Vincent's sleeve giving it a small tug, he immediately knew what I wanted and laid down next to me. I gave him a small smile.

I wonder what he would say to me in the morning?

Probably that I've lost my mind as well.

"Where are they now?" he asked just as I closed my eyes to sleep.

"Who knows?" I yawned. "Let's just go to sleep Vinnie."

I felt myself drifting off, and right before I was completely gone I heard Vincent whisper to himself.

"I'm sorry I didn't come looking for you, Yuffie."

Me too, Vinnie, me too.

* * *

Ugh, I give up on trying fixing this chapter. I swear I wrote it like five times. I don't know why I don't like it. It's not like it isn't what I wanted, cause it is what I wanted. I just don't know what's wrong with it and it's driving me crazy! I'm so frustrated that I could pull out all of my hair right about now. God, I need my ice cream and Oreo's. If this keeps up I'm going to go from 119 pounds to 234 by the time summer ends. T_T

Anyway, enough about my problems. Tell me what you guys think, okay?

Till next time,  
Nami


	11. Knowledge Kills

New chapter time! Shockingly, I don't have much to say.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, but that doesn't mean I can't dream about owning it… Right?

* * *

**Knowledge Kills**

Sometimes it's not enough. No matter how hard you work to protect the ones you care about, sometimes it just doesn't cut it. You find yourself discouraged and wondering just where it was that you went wrong. The worst part was that you were so close to reaching your goal but as you reached the end you had to turn around one last time to look back. Then it was gone, the second flickered by and you missed your chance. All because of that one moment of weakness, that one glance at what once was. The past should always be kept there, that way mistakes won't happen. You won't have to fail, and it won't have to hurt. If I could take back that moment of selfishness where I looked back, I would have done it in a heartbeat. I wouldn't be here now, wondering what they were thinking. I wouldn't be waiting for Vincent to come and get me, for him to finish explaining everything. My weakness. It's all pointless anyway, the wondering of what could have been. I've know that for while now.

Yet, I can't stop thinking about it.

I could have protected them, but I chose otherwise. I could have stopped all this, but I chose to do otherwise. This could have all been avoided. I really don't know what to do. I have broken every single one of my promises. The promises to my mother, Aeris, Zack, my friends, and everyone else. It's just a bunch of lies that are wrapping themselves around me, making it harder to breathe. I can't even pretend like it doesn't matter anymore. It is just another lie, another failure on my part. More heartache, more pain. I deserve all of it.

Actually, I deserve more. I should live the rest these days screaming in pain for how weak I am.

"Yuffie, they want to see you." Vincent's voice snapped me out of myself loathing. I looked up at him and I knew for sure he saw the panic in my eyes.

"Don't worry, they don't blame you." he reassured me, reaching out for my hand. I grabbed it without a second thought.

Vincent would protect me, even if I failed him, he would always protect me.

I was at least sure of that much.

* * *

"The mission is to find them?" I watched as she picked up one of the guns off the shelf of the weaponry room.

"Yes, it also states that killing them would be a favored option."

"Your Uncle always was a heartless ass." she laughed darkly.

"Watch your mouth before you loss it." I warned before turning to leave.

"When do we get to know the names and such?" Ivey's question disturbed me for some reason, but I quickly shook it off.

"When I finish reading the files." I really didn't have time to entertain her now, but I would amuse her for a bit. She deserved at least that much from me.

"Files?"

I turned myself back round to face her. Her eyes were wide in what was either horror or confusion. I couldn't quite make it out, and I hated not knowing. She never made any sense to me. That's part of the reason why my Uncle always placed her with me. He just loved watching me struggle to understand her. Yet, even though he was a sadistic basterd, he also knew she was the only person I would consistently listen to besides him. Growing up with certain people has that effect on you. I would never let anyone touch her, and she would give her life to save mine. It works out, one way or the other.

"What kind of mission did you take?" Ivey demanded, dropping the gun on the metal table and taking a step towards me.

"Meet me at my place in an hour," I once again turned to take my leave. "Don't be late."

"Ian!"

"I'm sorry." I whispered softly as the door closed behind me. I knew she would never be able to hear me, but I would always pretend that she could. Uncle wasn't the only sadistic basterd in the family. "Let's hope I can protect you this time darling."

* * *

They were staring. Again. They didn't say a word, just stared at me as if I was some type of math problem they couldn't figure out. So they continue to look at it in hope that they would remember the formula to solve it. If they figure it out I hope they tell me because sometimes I too wonder.

"I'm sorry." Marlene said finally breaking the long drawn out silence.

"Don't be." I smiled, or at least tried to. "That's the last thing I need. You wouldn't have been sorry before so do not pity me now."

"But I acted like an-"

"Like any other person would have in your position. I don't blame any of you." I told her.

She went to speak again but I cut in before she could.

"I figured out a long time ago what happened to me that day was an accident. Everything else was an accident too. You being here now is just as much of a mistake as anything that happened that day. I don't know what's going to happen from now on." I glanced down to my feet. My bare toes were digging into the sofa as if hoping it could swallow me whole and take me away from here.

"Dilly-Dally Shilly-Shally. We are going to be together from now on. Alright?"

The faces turned from me to Tifa who was now standing up.

"But-"

"Alright?" Tifa cut me off, her face clearly stating her resolve. She placed her hand in front of her. I thought for a moment before placing mine over it. One by one everyone's hands joined ours.

"Alright." Our voices mixed in together, and I went back in time for a moment. A moment where we were all together, where I never had to worry about them leaving me or someone taking us away from each other. It was nice, finally thinking about something that didn't make me feel like a waste of space.

I was happy there, but I knew better than to believe in happiness. At some point or another everything falls apart, proving the fact that nothing lasts forever.

Even the brightest diamond will lose its shine at some point.

* * *

She was late.

Five mintues late.

I swirled the contents of my drink around, watching as the ice swished back and forth. I no longer had the desire for the lightly glowing liquid, however it was keeping my mind off her for the time being. The glass kept my attention mainly because it was the only source of light in the loft. I had bordered up the windows long ago, and had no reason to turn on the lights. My vision was perfectly fine in the dark.

Six minutes.

Finally growing disgusted with the drink, I set it on the coffee table. She knew better than this. How dare she test me? I had offered her information and she toys with me in such sickening ways as payment. The damn wretch had better pray she has a good enough excuse to get her skinny ass out of punishment. She should know better. Today wasn't the day to test my patience and those damn flies weren't something to take lightly.

Yet, I couldn't get the thought of her lifeless body laying an ally somewhere out of my head.

I leaned back into my leather seat, trying to keep myself from going out and searching for her. It would only please her, and that was the last thing on my mind at the moment. She would be punished for this. She knew better than to make me worry- She knew better than going and dying on me. I had told her once after all: she was mine. Things that are mine do not make me wait, worry, or wonder. I told her the three W's. Dammit, I told about them monthly. Yet, here I am, doing all three of the things I despise the most.

Seven minutes.

I'm going to kill the wretch myself.

I heard the door slide open and shut softly, footsteps hesitantly making their way towards me. I shut my eyes as they came closer. She was here.

"Ian?" I didn't respond to her voice, even though it shook with unease. I was still far to angry at her to even clear my head.

"Ian it hurts." That however got my attention. I snapped my eyes over to her, she was five steps away from the door, afraid to come any closer to me.

Then the scent reached my nose- Blood.

Her blood.

Immediately, I pinpointed the wound to be in her left arm. It didn't even take a second before I was in front of her. She paled and screamed, as she backed into the door.

I reached out my hand, "Come, love, I will not harm you."

She didn't need anymore convincing, running into my chest and wrapping her good arm around me. Her sobs made me want to murder the bastard that did this her. Though, she needed taking care of first. I lifted her into my arms bridal style, making sure I didn't touch her bleeding arm, and lead her to the seat I was sitting in moments before. Now that I was closer to her arm I realized that the gash in her arm went deep, most likely cutting through the bone.

"Ian, I'm so sorry. I didn't see him come at me and then-" She was frantic, and my desire to kill grew significantly.

"Hush, darling." I grabbed the drink that was still resting on the coffee table, quickly placing it on her lips. She obediently opened her mouth as I poured the glowing liquid down her throat.

I glanced down at her arm, watching the wound close and heal. I reached back over to place the empty glass on the table.

She would be alright.

Yet, the thought of what may have occurred didn't leave me.

I gripped her tighter as she leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder. Her tears continuously falling into my shirt, reminding me that we had a purpose here.

"Ivey, pull yourself together." I commanded, finally pushing the sinking feeling in my gut out of mind.

"I-I know, I'm so pathetic." She mumbled into my soaked shirt.

I stood, her still clutched to me, and walked towards the metal stairs that lead to the bedroom. Reaching the top, I moved us to the bed at the far end corner. We moved around a bit until we were comfortable. Her head rested back into it's spot on my shoulder as her arms wrapped themselves around me once more. I returned the jester, pulling her closer to me.

"Are you listening?" I asked, already knowing the answer to be yes.

She nodded while looking up at me, her eyes curious yet still cautious.

"Don't tell the others but this mission is different. I've never seen my Uncle so serious about getting a mission completed in my life. He has even been watching me, and that has never happened before." I explained to her.

"Why so you think it is so important?" She was afraid, and I knew it was my fault.

"I'm not sure but I will be finding out. Until then don't mention this to anyone." I warned her lightly.

She nodded one again, "What was in the files?"

"I'll tell you in the morning." I promised her, "Try to sleep now love."

"Alright Ian." Her voice drifted off, sleep coming easily for her.

I watched her silently, wondering how much longer we would have before something took away our peace. How much longer until I did something that I would never be able to take back.

Or was it already too late?

* * *

So, I guess that's all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to update soon.

Thanks so much for the reviews!

Till next time,

Nami


	12. Wrong Move

So, I think everyone seemed to like the chapter in Vincent's point of view. And that's why I'm doing it again. What can I say? I love to make you guys happy. :)

Disclaimer: This is really hard for me to talk about...but I don't own Final Fantasy VII. There I said it!

* * *

**Wrong Move**

There is this feeling, I cannot describe it, but it hovers over me. Haunting, clouding my thoughts until I sleep. Sometimes it follows me even then, disturbing my usual dreamless sleep. I am certain something is wrong here. Something is hidden, something important. She is keeping a secret from us, from me.

Her keeping a secret for a month. Its almost unheard of.

She is undeniably up to something, and I cannot figure out exactly what it is. She's gone for around nine hours each day, and at times she leaves late at night. Almost as if she knows whatever she is doing will upset me, therefore she keeps it hidden. I am not fond of this behavior, and she refuses to tell me anything. No matter what I say to convince her otherwise.

"Vincent will you please stop sulking, its driving me crazy." Tifa explained. I snapped out of my thoughts when she spoke my name, watching as she continued slicing potatoes for dinner.

"I am doing no such thing." I argued.

Shelke laughed softly from her seat on one of the islands chairs, "Oh, yes you are. You haven't been normal since Miss Yuffie left."

"You are imagining things." I shifted out my seat in order to head back to the bedroom. I didn't need to hear their insane ramblings.

"Whatever you say, Vincent." Tifa smiled, sharing a knowing look with Shelke.

These women are completely mad. I am not upset because Yuffie left. I am upset because she refuses to tell me why she left. Besides, I am not sulking.

I know when something is wrong, and I am positive that something here is wrong. Yuffie knows exactly what that something is. I'll be damned if I don't figure it out.

"Hey Vince, you heading back to the room?" Cid stopped me in the middle of the last hallway.

I nodded, "Yes, should I not be?"

"The hell if I know. I was just letting ya know that Yuffie is back." Cid said before beginning to walk away, "Brat has been disappearing for hours."

Apparently, I wasn't the only one noticing her absence. I watched as Cid figure disappeared down the dimly lit hallway before walking again. My decision was final. I am going confront her about it again. No longer will I wait for her to tell me; it is about time I solved this.

As I entered the main door to the rooms, I quickly realized that no one was inside. The room was quite, making me realize that diner was soon. I had to work fast, before Tifa came after us. I made my way to the green door and unlocked it before climbing up the stairs. Before I could open the door to the bedroom, I heard something. Yuffie- She was talking to someone. However I could not hear the conversation, her voice was muffled by the door. As quietly as possible I leaned against the door to listen.

"No! That isn't true- no I don't care what she told you to say!" Yuffie's voice was frantic, my curiosity grew significantly.

I could barely hear the other's voice, so I slightly opened the door to listen better. She did not take notice in my actions, however, I noticed that the phone was in her hand. She must have it on speaker. I could see that her back was turned to the door. She was angry, that much I was sure of.

"...you should not trust so easily." A man. The voice was familiar, it sent an odd chill up my spine.

"I will trust whoever the hell I want to trust!" She screamed back at him.

"He still loves her, child." Something about that voice, I knew that I knew him.

"Screw you! I am not a child!" I was surprised that she hadn't hanged up yet.

"Please calm down and listen to reason." I couldn't place him, but my mind was close to an answer. I tried harder to place him, maybe this would give me clue to what was going on here. If I could just figure out who this man was.

"I don't want your stupid reason!" She screeched back at him.

"Every well, don't say that I didn't warn you." She slammed the phone down, clearly more upset then before.

Then it finally clicked.

Hojo.

* * *

Stupid Hojo and his stupid reason!

I. Do. Not. Care. What. He. Thinks.

I'm going to do what I think is best and that is final. Forget him, thinking he is all high and mighty. Please, I am soooo much smarter than him anyways. And everyone knows it!

I turned around to leave and my heart stopped.

Holy shit, Vincent.

"Hiya Vince!" I faked a smile, trying to recover from my surprise.

Oh no. Please, oh please tell me you just now got here and didn't hear anything. Please, please, please don't tell me you just heard that!

"That voice on your phone…"

Oh shit.

"Have you heard of knocking, Vince?" I asked, my voice slightly shaking.

"That was Hojo- but how? Why isn't he dead Yuffie?" Vincent asked, becoming more furious by the second.

"What are you talking about, Vincent?" I asked innocently.

"Yuffie."

I shut my mouth, not knowing what to even say to him.

"Answer me." He growled.

What if I don't want to? Huh? No, have to stay calm or Zack will have my head.

He was coming closer, I backed up quickly and he ended up forcing me to sit on the bed. He looked much scarier from down here. My heart freaked the hell out.

"Remember when I told you there are more of us?" I couldn't look up at him while I spoke.

"Yes."

"His one of us too. A lot of the people we once knew turned into vampires."

Vincent didn't say anything for a while. I could tell that he was thinking. My heart wouldn't slow down though. I shut my eyes, not wanting to see his reaction when it finally sunk in.

"You can't trust him." He finally said.

He sounded calm, so I opened my eyes to look at him. I glanced up to see him looking at me. My heart skipped a beat, afraid of what was coming next.

"Funny, he said the same thing about you." I told him softly, not once breaking our eye contact.

"I am not joking, Yuffie." Vincent sat down next to me, reaching for my hand. I gave it to him without a seconds thought.

"Vincent I-"

Suddenly my phone rang, we both turned around to look at it.

"Answer it." He demanded.

I reached for it and clicked it on, "Hello?"

"Yuffie! You and Vincent are late for diner! Get your butts down here right now." Tifa. Thank Gawd.

"Sure thing Teefs!" I said before hanging up.

"Come on, Vinnie. Their waiting for us." I moved to get up before he grabbed me by my arm and pulled me back to him.

"We will talk about this when we get back." He said clearly.

I nodded quickly, willing to do anything to get out of this room.

Honestly, I was a bit scared of him at this point. Not that anyone could blame me, Vincent never misses a shot. Never.

He then proceeded to practically drag me to the kitchen. I seriously need to start paying attention to what is happening around me. This whole stupid mess could have easily been avoided if I had been aware of my surroundings.

I could already tell that this was going to be a fun night for me.

Hopefully, Vincent will forget about everything after diner. I made a quick glance at him as he went to open the silver door to the hallway. His resolve was clearly apparent on his face. Or maybe he won't ever forget.

Maybe it would be best if I start praying. Yup, that sounds like a better plan to me.

* * *

I love having more time to write now that I'm done with school! But I can't believe its already graduation time! Jeez, this year went by fast.

Anyway, what did you think? :D

Thanks for reveiwing too!

Till next time,

Nami


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